Extremist attacks raise fears of rising terror threat

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Burkina Faso’s leaders urged vigilance Saturday, a day after brazen Islamic extremist attacks on the army headquarters and French Embassy in the capital that killed eight people. An al Qaeda-linked group based in neighboring Mali claimed responsibility for the assaults.

It was the third attack on Ouagadougou in just over two years, and it was directed at the army’s central command and the heavily guarded embassy, raising concerns that extremists are growing bolder in their assaults on the West African nation. The attack on the army headquarters narrowly missed a conference of top military leaders, indicating the extremists may have had inside information.

Previous extremist attacks had been on soft targets of restaurants, which caused a greater loss of civilian lives.

“The decision to actually stage an attack in this area (the army headquarters) where there is a permanent security presence demonstrates the growing confidence and capabilities of terror groups in the region,” said Sean Smith, a West Africa politics senior analyst with Verisk Maplecroft.

Burkina Faso contributes more troops to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali than other West African nations, making it an extremist target, he said.

Several extremist groups have vowed to step up the bloodshed in response to the recent deployment of a multinational Sahel force. The 5,000-strong force combines troops from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania to battle extremism in the region.

Militants have carried out two other large-scale attacks on Ouagadougou, killing 30 people at a cafe in 2016 and 18 more at a restaurant in August 2017.

Friday’s attacks killed at least eight people, including a senior officer, and left more than 80 injured.

Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore condemned the violence in a speech broadcast to the nation Saturday.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing, can justify such indiscriminate fury against the Burkinabe state, its institutions and the brave people who love peace, democracy, justice and progress,” he said.

Security forces killed eight militant attackers, and several arrests were made after Friday’s simultaneous attacks.