Jihadists launch coordinated assault in Burkina Faso
The coordinated assault blamed on jihadists has left nearly a dozen Burkinabe soldiers dead.
The coordinated assault blamed on jihadists has left nearly a dozen Burkinabe soldiers dead.
No one has claimed the assault, but Ansar Dine was behind a jailbreak last month.
The two attacks, including a suicide bombing, targeted foreign bases at airports in northern Mali. Al Qaeda has launched more than 200 attacks in Mali and the neighboring countries in the past year.
The total number of al Qaeda-linked attacks in Mali in 2016 now sits at 203.
On Oct. 9, a statement attributed to Mokhtar Belmokhtar was circulated online. The message eulogizes Sheikh Ag Aoussa, a prominent Tuareg leader who was reportedly killed in an explosion after attending a meeting at a UN camp in Mali. The statement’s author, presumably Belmokhtar, blames France for Aoussa’s death and calls on tribes to turn against the French.
The Tuareg al Qaeda front claimed a coordinated assault on UN troops yesterday in northern Mali, which included two separate incidents of shelling and IED attacks.
The video shows the aftermath of an ambush on Malian troops in central Mali last month. The jihadist group’s two battalions that operate in central and southern Mali continue to threaten the region.
Jihadists have reportedly gained control over the town of Boni after the military retreated. Additionally, today’s spate of attacks in Mali, mainly in the central regions of Mopti and Segou, marks one of the most active days for jihadist groups in Mali