Ouagadougou: A terrorist organization linked to Al Qaeda has carried out a fierce attack on the army in the African country of Burkina Faso. This organization has also claimed to have killed 200 soldiers. This attack was carried out by targeting a military base, police station and market. This attack is considered to be one of the biggest attacks in the history of Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso has countries like Mali and Niger in its neighbourhood, which themselves have been suffering from terrorist attacks for a long time. This entire area remains a stronghold of Al Qaeda-backed terrorists.
Claim of killing 200 soldiers
An al-Qaeda-linked organization has claimed to have killed 200 soldiers in an attack on a military base in Burkina Faso this week, according to an NGO that monitors the online activities of armed groups. The base in the northern city of Djibo was attacked on Sunday morning and a police station and a market were also targeted. Although there were no official casualties, residents of Djibo reported that dozens of soldiers and civilians were killed in the attacks.
Terrorist activities increased in Burkina Faso
A military source in Burkina Faso told Al Jazeera that the armed group was exaggerating the number of casualties. The United States-based SITE Intelligence Group said that Jamaat Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimeen (JNIM) made this claim in a formal statement. This group monitors the online activities of armed groups in Africa. "The operation comes amid heightened JNIM activity in Burkina Faso over the past month, which has led to a large number of casualties," SITE said.
Terrorists driving people out of cities
The group had earlier said that Ousmane Dicko, the head of JNIM in Burkina Faso, appeared in a video in which he ordered residents of Djibo to leave the city for their own safety. Al Jazeera's Nicholas Haque, reporting from Dakar, Senegal, said the attack lasted several days. "One of the key military checkpoints protecting this city of about 200,000 people was destroyed, so great was the firepower of the armed groups," Nicholas Haque said.
One of Burkina Faso's deadliest attacks
"This is one of the deadliest attacks in Burkina Faso, and it has happened at the exact time when Ibrahim Traore [Burkina Faso's military leader] is saying the country is recapturing territory, encouraging people to return to their homes, but this latest attack proves the opposite," Haq said. A video circulated on social media by the al-Qaeda-linked group warned people to leave their homes and said it would capture more territory.
