Nearly 200 people were killed and 140 injured in the Burkina Faso city of Barsalogho, the latest in a long string of deadly attacks by an al-Qaeda-linked militant group, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM).
Among the dead were women and children. Not SaturdayBarsalogho is located in the town of Kaya, a strategic point in central northern Burkina Faso that houses the last remaining military force among JNIM fighters in the capital Ouagadougou. Several soldiers were lost in the attack as JNIM continues to advance and seize undisturbed areas of the West African country.
Here's what you need to know about the attacks in Burkina Faso, JNIM, and how the ruling military government isn't fighting the group.
Or what happened on Saturday?
On the sixth day, Burkina Faso’s military government is aware of the imminent threat of an attack, reports Al Jazeera’s Nicholas Haque. The authorities will now appeal to the general population to help the military dig trenches meant to act as a protective barrier and prevent invading fighters from entering the city.
According to local news, some people initially opposed the move, fearing revenge attacks by armed groups. It is common for citizens to be attacked by armed groups or for the army to be believed to be helping the other side.
But trench digging began on Saturday and appeared to be still underway when fighters cut their candles and opened fire.
In several videos posted on social media by JNIM fighters, dozens of bodies, most of them apparently young men, were seen in trenches. There was a road next to them.
The fighters learned how to use weapons and a military ambulance, according to local accounts.
Dozens of injured victims were taken to Kaya Regional Hospital. Hospital authorities will appeal for doctors, nurses and other health workers to volunteer to treat the wounded.
Minister of Communications, Rimtalba Jean-Emmanuel Ouedraogo, Chamo attack or “barbaric”.
What about him or the JNIM group?
JNIM is one of two armed groups operating in Burkina Faso and throughout the Sahel region with the goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate and, at the same time, ousting governments of Western influence.
The group's operations initially began in Mali before spreading to Burkina Faso and parts of Niger. JNIM has also launched attacks in the far northern regions of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin and Togo.
Founded in 2017, JNIM is made up of four armed groups: Ansar Dine, Al-Mourabitoun, the Macina Liberation Front, and the al-Qaeda affiliate in the Emirate of Sara Nas Terrasse du Islamic Maghreb. The group's members come from Sahelian and Maghreb countries such as Morocco. At the time of its formation, JNIM pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda.
Iyad Ag Ghaly, or Abou El Fadl, is a Malian militant and founder of Ansar Dine, and the known leader of the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM). Ag Ghaly was a member of ethnic Tuareg separatist groups in the Kidal region of northern Mali. He took part in fighting in the early 1990s.
JNIM's strategy explores local and social divisions in the areas it controls, appealing to groups considered marginalized, such as the Tuareg and Fulani people.
Analysts said that the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims also com.alvos Government infrastructure, such as water infrastructure and power plants. The organization acts as a government in these areas, providing amenities to local residents, making agreements with local leaders, and recruiting from within these residents to increase their numbers.
“They are married into the local population and it is difficult for the army to find them because they mix very quickly,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel programme at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation. “This is part of the frustration of the Burkinabe army that it is not able to fight them.”
The group finances its activities by demanding ransom for kidnappings, taxing local populations, smuggling weapons, and extorting drug and human traffickers.
Other active groups in the country include the Islamic State in the Sahel, which is affiliated with ISIS.
When did JNIM carry out other attacks?
JNIM has carried out several large-scale attacks in Burkina Faso and Mali. It is the most active armed group in the Sahel, according to the conflict monitoring website ACLED.
From 2017 to 2023, JNIM was responsible for more than half of all violent incidents in the region, not least due to its increased capacity to use bombs, mortars, landmines, and street fires, ACLED noted. It has had violent interactions with the Burkinabe military (1,762) and the Malian military (945). It also includes volunteer fighting groups, and communities seen as sympathetic to the state.
I am VivereroFighters from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM) attacked a mosque and a church in northern Burkina Faso, killing dozens of people in the villages of Natiabwani and Issakani. Another attack on the villages of Kamsilga, Soro and Nodine, also in February, was carried out by fighters from the group. dead More than 170 people. Among the victims were women and children.
M JunhoJNIM fighters claim to have killed more than 100 soldiers at a military base in the northern Mansila region near Niger. Security analysts said it was one of the deadliest attacks on government forces ever. JNIM also said it captured seven soldiers and seized weapons and ammunition.
Is it safe to worry in Burkina Faso?
Burkina Faso will be the country most affected by terrorism in the world in 2024, according to the Global Terrorism Index (GTI). The deposed and Iraq-influenced country is the first time in 13 years that it has been affected by terrorism. Categories Poetry Institute for Economics and Peace.
According to the GTI, 2,000 people will be killed in 258 “terrorist attacks” in Burkina Faso in 2023, representing a quarter of all “terrorist” deaths worldwide and a 68% increase compared to the previous year. More than 2,000 people are being deported from Sham aid groups around the world. “More neglect” crisis.
Security analysts have linked the higher level of attacks and deaths to the country’s smaller, more densely populated areas. Militant groups have attacked across West Africa, but Burkina Faso, with a population of 22.67 million spread across just over 275,000 square kilometers (105,000 square miles), appears to be more successful. Mali, by contrast, has a population of 22.45 million spread across more than 1.2 million square kilometers (479,000 square miles).
“Burkina Faso is smaller (compared to Niger and Mali) and densely populated. … Every time the army attacks, there are more civilian casualties. It is brutal,” Lessing told Al Jazeera.
Or did the military government guarantee any profit?
The military will demolish a civilian government in 2022, claiming more security efforts and promising to solve the problem quickly.
The military government in Burkina Faso, like the new military leaders in Mali and Niger, will cut ties with France because of growing resentment of French influence in Africa, and thousands of Western troops who help control armed groups in the region will abandon us.
Once again, military governments have become friendly to Russia, buying military weapons and deploying fighters from the Wagner mercenary group, now known as the Africa Corps.
However, JNIM and other armed groups will only control more territory, particularly in Burkina Faso. Some 50 to 60 percent of the country is now outside government control, despite massive recruitment of paramilitary volunteers to defend the homeland. Analysts say the recruits receive only minimal training and are not tested in combat.
“They will carry out more operations and ensure the safety of some roads in the capital and a nearby city, but the end result is that we will not achieve much and we will not be able to maintain our presence when we control the territory,” Lessing added.
In addition, local agreements that had once been persecuted by the civil government as a means of ensuring the end of the fire were abandoned.
Government forces are also attacking more and more civilians in areas controlled by two armed groups, which analysts say could encourage more people to join them. According to ACLED, JNIM has used attacks on its members as justification for two more attacks on civilians.
“Small and light weapons – all of these things will come up, but they have not been effective in counterinsurgency because we are not addressing the main drivers of insurgency themselves,” said researcher Dan Eizenga of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
“Isso will end up falling into the government’s domain,” he said. “The Sahel has tended to be more negative than it was before the two military coups there.”
What do we see next?
Ultimately, the Burkinabe government will have to recruit the more “moderate” members of JNIM and secure a ceasefire because a military solution is not possible, according to Lessing. But that could take time.
“So far, the government is proving that it is still capable of reclaiming territory,” he said.
Meanwhile, frustration begins to grow among the soldiers. Rumors of possible counter strikes It has emerged in recent months, raising another level of anxiety in the country.
