The army reported that among the most notable acts of violence was an assault in the town of Sawsenga, where several members of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP) were killed.

As a consequence of the growing violence, hundreds of Burkinabe inhabitants fled from their homes to Ivory Coast. In recent times the air force, in coordination with the Army and the VDP developed offensives against irregular groups, actions that caused the death of dozens of extremists, according to official reports.

Within Burkina Faso, a country ruled by a military junta and which last year suffered two coups d’état, since 2015 to date more than 10,000 people have died violently, among them soldiers and policemen, while around two million have been displaced, according to humanitarian organizations.

The population of Burkina Faso suffers from insecurity as a result of assaults by extremist groups, such as the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.

These formations, which control large areas in the country, also cut off the supply of food and drinking water to the cities, aggravating the local humanitarian landscape.

ef/arm/mgt/ob