4 killed, 2 injured in attack on Burkina Faso police detachment

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) – At least four police officers were killed and two others wounded when armed insurgents attacked a police detachment in Burkina Faso, police said on Monday.

“On Sunday at around 12 noon, the detachment of the Republican Security Company of Yakouta, Seno province, Sahel region, was the target of an attack perpetrated by armed individuals,” police said in a statement.

Besides the dead and wounded, two other police officers are still missing, it said, adding that a manhunt by the defense and security forces in the locality is underway.

Burkina Faso has been battling an insurgency that has spread from neighboring Mali over the past decade.

Last week, 11 gendarmerie officers were killed in an attack on the Seytenga Territorial Gendarmerie Brigade in the same Sahel region.

More than 3,173 people, including 2,173 children, have been displaced as of last Sunday due to recent armed attacks in Seytenga and Titabe communes, according to the Directorate of Humanitarian Action, a local NGO based in the northeastern town of Dori.

Last week, the government said an assessment was still being undertaken to determine the number of displaced people.​​​​​​​