OUAGADOUGOU, June 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An attack that reportedly killed over 100 soldiers on an army base in Burkina Faso has snowballed into speculation about unrest in the security forces, in a country where the military has been in power since 2022.
The junta has not commented on the attack but has denied that there was a mutiny.
Burkina Faso has been battling Islamist insurgents for several years and about half the country is outside government control.
Jihadist group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has said it was behind last Tuesday’s attack in the northern town of Mansila.
The following day, there was an explosion near the headquarters of the state television.
According to several reports, armed men attacked the military base, located near the border with Niger, on June 11.
Around 100 soldiers were killed and many others were missing, reports say, adding that several hundred civilians fled Mansila for neighbouring towns in search of safety.
Five days after the attack, JNIM, an al-Qaeda affiliate, said it was behind the attack, and that dozens of soldiers were killed.
The group shared a video showing a large amount of weapons and ammunition that it says were captured during the assault.
There are also videos of JNIM fighters riding motorbikes and shooting relentlessly in a remote village of mud-walled buildings.
The armed forces have since blockaded Mansila and it is not possible to enter the city without a military convoy.
A day after the Mansila attack, a rocket hit the parking area of state TV Radiotélévision Burkinabé (RTB) in the capital, Ouagadougou.
On its Facebook page, RTB described the event as a “shooting incident” that resulted in “two minor injuries, quickly taken care of by the presidential health service”.
Along with the public, soldiers had expressed frustration at the government’s failure to contain the security crisis after a series of high-profile attacks.
Like its counterparts in Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso’s junta came to power promising to end the jihadist insurgency.
But insecurity in Burkina Faso has increased dramatically since the army took power in 2022, kicking out French troops, saying they had not done enough to tackle the jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The junta has meanwhile deepened military ties with Russia.
Capt Traoré has repeatedly expressed a determination to eradicate the militants since he took power. Under his watch, the army launched several counter-terrorism operations in the most volatile areas, using modern weapons from Russia, Turkey and China.
Although the authorities have not spoken about the attacks specifically, they have denied the reports of military discontent.
The attacks came about a week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Burkina Faso and announced plans to send more military instructors to the country.
Having cultivated very close relations with Burkina Faso and other Sahel countries in recent years, Russia is already reportedly taking steps to ensure Capt Traoré’s administration remains stable.
More Russian mercenaries were recently flown from Mali to “protect” the Burkinabè leader in the aftermath of the attack, according to reports. — NNN-AGENCIES
