Al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) has claimed responsibility for a June 11 attack that reportedly killed over 100 Burkina Faso soldiers in the Mansila area near the Niger border, the SITE Intelligence Group reported on Sunday.
A spokesman for Burkina Faso’s ruling junta has not responded to Reuters’ request for comment regarding the attack.
SITE quoted a JNIM statement as saying that five days ago “fighters stormed a military post in the town, where they killed 107 soldiers and took control of the site”.
Several videos shared online by the insurgents show intense gunfire around the army base, a display of dozens of weapons and ammunition, and at least seven captured Burkina Faso soldiers.
This reported attack is one of the deadliest for Burkina Faso’s army, which, along with neighboring Niger and Mali, struggles to contain insurgencies linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Over the past decade, these insurgencies have killed thousands and displaced over two million people in Burkina Faso. The unrest threatens regional stability, as insurgents controlling swathes of territory in Burkina Faso and Mali use these areas as bases to target southern coastal countries.
