Two Burkina Faso soldiers were killed and five others wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the southeastern Kompienga province on Wednesday, September 5, the Agence D’Information du Burkina news agency reported.
Citing unnamed sources, AIB reported that the patrol struck by the bomb in Kabonga had been deployed in response to an attack on August 28. In that incident, at least seven Burkinabe security personnel sent as reinforcements were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb en route to Pama, where a police station had come under attack.
A security source said the latest blast targeted a mine clearance team that was also headed for Pama to “search for and neutralise” explosive devices planted by jihadists who have infiltrated the area in recent months, AFP reported.
Kabonga village is around 20 km (12 miles) from Pama.
Infowakat reported that the attack occurred around 10 a.m. local time.
One of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso has been battling an escalating wave of attacks over the last three years, beginning with cross-border incursions in the north of the country but now spreading to the east, near the border with Togo and Benin.
The recent surge of attacks in the east is the result of pressure on jihadist insurgents in neighboring Mali and Niger.
On August 11, six people, five of them police, were killed in a “terrorist” bomb and gun attack near the Boungou gold mine near Fada N’Gourma, the main town in the region.
On June 17, a police officer was killed in the town of Comin-Yanga in a simultaneous attack on the local police and gendarmerie stations.
Security forces have carried out a series of arrests in recent months, detaining hundreds of people in connection with the attacks.
With reporting from AFP. This post was updated on September 5 to include that a mine clearance team was targeted.
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