Eleven military policemen have been killed in northern Burkina Faso after their post was attacked by armed men, the army has said.
The West African country is battling armed groups, some linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), that are waging a violent rebellion that has killed thousands across Burkina Faso and neighbouring Mali and Niger.
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The attack took place on Thursday evening at a security post in Seytenga, in the province of Seno, the army statement on Friday said. The gendarmes fought back but were outnumbered, it said.
Four military police were also killed on Thursday in an attack in the western province of Kossi and two people were killed in another incident at a gold mine in the north, the army said.
According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), the landlocked country has now replaced Mali, the birthplace of the conflict in the Sahel, as the epicentre of the crisis.
In 2021, a total of 1,315 events of organised political violence, including explosions and violence against civilians, were recorded – twice 2020’s figures.