40 dead in attack on army and volunteer defense forces in northern Burkina Faso

The attack took place on Saturday in the village of Aorema, near the town of Ouahigouya in the northern region, not far from the border with Mali, an area overrun by Islamist groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, which have carried out repeated attacks for years. .

It is not clear which group carried out the attack. It comes nine days after gunmen killed 44 people in the villages of Kourakou and Tondobi in the north of the West African country.

Six soldiers and 34 members of a volunteer defense force were killed in Saturday’s attack, the statement said. The government has encouraged civilians to join local defense forces to try to end eight years of violence that has left thousands dead and forced millions from their homes.

Unrest in Burkina Faso sparked two coups last year by the army, which vowed to take control of the country but failed to stop the attacks.

The unrest in the region began in Mali in 2012, when Islamists hijacked a Tuareg separatist uprising. Since then, the violence has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, and threatens to destabilize coastal countries further afield.