Suspected jihadists killed 14 soldiers in an attack in northern Burkina Faso on Monday, the defence ministry said, in the latest bloodshed to hit the region plagued by Islamist violence.
“The military detachment of Yirgou” in the Centre-Nord region’s Barsalogho department was “the target of a terrorist attack” around 0500 GMT on Monday, junior defence minister General Aime Barthelemy Simpore said.
“Fourteen soldiers were killed during the fighting and seven wounded were evacuated,” he said in a statement, with the death toll higher than the nine given earlier by security sources.
“Several terrorists were neutralised during the response,” he added, praising the soldiers’ “great fighting spirit”. A ground and air counter-offensive were immediately launched to “neutralise the attackers,” he added.
Related
Data source: stripes.com