Six killed in attacks on Burkina security forces

• Burkina Faso’s security forces lost two officers and four civilians in clashes.
• Civilian auxiliary force VDP has suffered some of the worst casualties.
• disgruntled colonels ousted president.

Burkina Faso’s security forces have lost two officers and four civilian volunteers in encounters with suspected terrorists, army headquarters announced on Thursday.

A soldier and four Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) were killed on Thursday in the northern town of Dijbo, in Soum province, it said in a statement.

Eight soldiers were wounded and at least seven assailants were killed, it added.

On Wednesday, a reconnaissance unit in northwestern Burkina clashed with “terrorists” in Gomboro, in Sourou province and an officer was killed, the statement also said.

Read more: Burkina army kills jihadist chief, say security sources

Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries of the world, has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighboring Mali in 2015.

The campaign, led mainly by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State, has claimed more than 2,000 lives and forced around 1.8 million people to flee their homes.

The VDP — a civilian auxiliary force set up in December 2019 to take over some basic security duties from the army — has suffered some of the worst casualties.

The landlocked Sahel state underwent a military coup in January, when disgruntled colonels ousted elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore.

The country’s new strongman, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, declared security to be his top priority but after a relative lull, a surge in attacks has claimed more than 200 lives.

On Wednesday, security sources said a leading jihadist commander in the north had been killed in an airstrike on May 26.

Tidiane Djibrilou Dicko was on a list of 46 terrorists disseminated by the armed forces in early May.

Read more: Rebels kill 11 in northern Burkina Faso