Dozens die in Burkina Faso as Islamist militants, soldiers clash

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso

Dozens of people were killed in a clash between Islamist militants and government forces in northern Burkina Faso on Wednesday as violence spirals anew in West Africa’s Sahel region.

In an attack near the northern town of Arbinda, militants killed at least 47 people, including 30 civilians, 14 soldiers and three pro-government militiamen, state media reported.

State media reported that government troops killed 16 militants while a security source put the number at 58.

Militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State regularly carry out attacks in Burkina Faso and neighbouring Mali and Niger, killing hundreds of civilians this year alone.

Violence in the Sahel, a semi-arid band beneath the Sahara Desert, has continued to intensify despite the presence of thousands of U.N., regional and Western troops and efforts by some governments to negotiate with the militants.

Armed men killed at least 12 soldiers last week in northwestern Burkina Faso as well as 30 civilians, soldiers and pro-government militiamen days before that. read more

In Niger, armed men on Monday killed 37 civilians, including 14 children, in an attack on a village. 

The violence comes as former colonial power France prepares to begin drawing down its forces in the Sahel from 5,000 to about 2,500-3,000.

The Sahel was thrown into chaos by the takeover in 2012 of northern Mali by militants linked to al Qaeda.

France intervened the following year to push them back. But they have regrouped and expanded their operations, and they now threaten coastal West African countries like Benin and Ivory Coast.