A military convoy carrying over 1,000 civilians was ambushed by suspected jihadists in Burkina Faso last week, resulting in civilian casualties, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the regional governor. The statement did not specify the number of fatalities.
The ambush occurred on August 9 in the village of Tawori, located in the eastern part of Burkina Faso’s Sahel region. Governor Ram Joseph Kafando disclosed the details after visiting the injured in a local hospital on Tuesday but did not reveal the number of those injured or whether soldiers were among the casualties.
Governor Kafando commended the hospital’s medical staff for their “titanic efforts” in treating the wounded.
Burkina Faso, along with neighboring Mali and Niger, has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency that has ravaged the Sahel region of West Africa for over a decade. The inability of previous governments to protect civilians from the insurgency has led to multiple coups in the region since 2020—two in Mali, two in Burkina Faso, and one in Niger.
Despite the promises made by these military juntas to end the violence, the insurgency continues, resulting in thousands of deaths and the displacement of millions.
