Burkina Faso extends state of emergency as attacks by militants surge
Burkina Faso’s parliament
voted on Friday to extend a state of emergency by six months in several
northern provinces where attacks by Islamist militants have surged in recent
months, including one on Thursday that killed 12 people.
The government said the
latest attack was carried out by three dozen jihadists on the town of Gasseliki
in Soum province near the Malian border.
Two Gasseliki residents told
Reuters that the men opened fire and set fire to shops in town.
Burkina Faso imposed the
state of emergency on Dec. 31 after militants killed 10 gendarmes in a single
attack.
Security has deteriorated in
Burkina as jihadists – including many based in Mali – seek to increase their
influence across the poorly policed scrublands of the Sahel region just south
of the Sahara Desert.
An attack last week set off
a bout of ethnic violence that killed dozens of civilians, raising fears the
militants are looking to replicate a tactic they have employed in Mali to
bolster their support among certain communities.
