Burkina Faso reels from extremist raids
Islamic militants grow bolder, hitting army HQ, embassy
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, which killed eight people.
It is the third attack on Ouagadougou in just over two years and it was aimed directly 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.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for Friday’s attacks but several extremist groups have vowed to step up the bloodshed in response to the recent deployment of the multinational G5 Sahel force.
The 5,000-strong force combines troops from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania to battle extremism in the region.
Islamic extremists have carried out two other large-scale attacks on Ouagadougou in recent years, killing 30 people at a popular cafe in 2016 and 18 more at a Turkish 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 on 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.
Burkina Faso’s Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba said he is revolted by the Islamic militants’ attacks and said the government and people must remain on guard.
“What just happened to us is a lesson, and we need to remain vigilant and also ready to anticipate on the modus operandi of the terrorists,” Thieba said, announcing the government will put in place new measures to “protect institutions.”
The French ambassador to Burkina Faso, Xavier Lapeyre de Cabanes, expressed solidarity with Burkina Faso.
“Our two countries were targeted. The symbolism is strong, that is, the terrorists are trying to divide us and that will obviously not happen,” he said.
Security forces killed eight militant attackers, and several arrests were made after Friday’s simultaneous attacks, but the repeat of violence left residents upset and in shock.