Four villagers were killed and another went missing in northeastern Ivory Coast near Burkina Faso in a deadly attack, the army said Tuesday. The assault marks the first such lethal incident in Ivory Coast since 2021, heightening fears of militan spillover from the Sahel region.
The attack occurred in Difita village, two kilometres from the Burkinabe border, during the night from Sunday to Monday, army chief General Lassina Doumbia said. Four farmers died, one resident vanished, a woman was seriously burned, and attackers set fire to several huts while seizing livestock, he added.
An Ivorian government source suggested the assault could be revenge targeting villagers suspected of aiding Burkina Faso’s anti-militant volunteer force. Burkina Faso’s Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland support the army against militants but are frequently accused of rights abuses against civilians.
The Ivorian army dispatched air and ground troops, but attackers fled before security forces could engage, officials confirmed. The poorly marked, porous border often sees clashes between militants and Burkina Faso’s volunteer force just kilometres from Ivory Coast territory.
Ivory Coast’s Defence Minister Tene Birahima Ouattara acknowledged security challenges but insisted the situation remains “worrying but under control” in a recent interview. Relations between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso have been tense since the 2022 military coup in Ouagadougou brought Captain Ibrahim Traore to power.
Traore has accused Ivory Coast of harbouring opponents, while both nations trade accusations of attempted destabilisation along their shared frontier. Ivory Coast first faced a deadly terror attack in 2016, when assailants killed 19 in Grand-Bassam, a resort near Abidjan, highlighting persistent regional threats.
