The Burkina Faso Government, in a statement on Monday, said that a large group of heavily armed militants killed 14 Burkinabe soldiers and injured seven others in a dawn attack in the north on Monday.
The attack on the military detachment, which occurred near the town of Yirgou in Sanmatenga, North-Central Burkina Faso has not been claimed by any group.
Yirgou, which had been taken over by jihadist insurgents linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, was the site of another militant ambush in June, killing at least 15 police officers. Their unit had been on a relief mission in the town following a previous bout of militant violence.
Attacks linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State have risen in the Sahel region of Africa, killing thousands and displacing millions in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
In Burkina Faso alone, the violence has displaced approximately 1.2 million people and has left 3.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
Last week, the army said five Burkinabé soldiers died in the north of the country when their vehicle ran over an improvised explosive device.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), more than 1.5 million people in Burkina Faso are in need of protection in 2021. More than 1/3 of children are at risk of recruitment by armed groups, forced labour and other protection concerns and 1 per cent of IDP children are unaccompanied. Women and girls, who make 54 per cent of IDPs are at increased risks of sexual and gender-based violence by armed groups.
