Ouagadougou, Jan 17, 2020 – Six Burkina Faso soldiers were killed Friday when their vehicle was hit by a roadside explosive in a northern province, security sources said, in the latest attack on the country’s armedforces. No group claimed immediate responsibility for the bomb, but jihadist violence in Burkina Faso has been blamed on militants linked to both Al-Qaeda and Islamic State groups. According to the UN, around 4,000 people were killed in jihadist attacks in the three Sahel countries last year. The Burkina Faso army is ill-equipped and poorly-trained to deal with the threat posed by jihadists in the country. There are 4,500 French troops deployed in the Sahel region as well as a 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in Mali to fight insurgents, backing up national forces of the G5 — Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 19, 2020 17:15 UTC