Burkina Faso declares state of emergency in north following attacks
Burkina Faso has declared a state of emergency in several northern provinces, a government spokesman says, as extremist groups intensify attacks in areas bordering Mali.
Security has deteriorated in the West African country as militants seek to increase their influence across the poorly policed scrublands of the Sahel region just south of the Sahara Desert.
Burkinabe authorities are facing security problems from "the diffuse, cross-border nature of the terrorist threat," government spokesman Remy Fulgance Dandjinou said following a special meeting of the cabinet.
Last week, ten gendarmes were killed in an attack near the Malian border claimed by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), an umbrella group for al-Qaeda-linked militants in the Sahara.
JNIM claimed responsibility for other attacks this year, including one in the capital Ouagadougou in March that killed about eight security agents and wounded dozens of others.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for a raid on a restaurant and hotel in Ouagadougou in January 2016 in which 30 people were killed. AQIM merged with other local militant groups last year to form JNIM.
Thousands of people have fled their homes as a result of the attacks and reprisals by Burkinabe security forces, Human Rights Watch reported in May.
(Source: Reuters)
South Africa to file detailed dossier with top UN court on Israeli genocide
Putin: BRICS, not the West, will drive global economic prosperity
Pentagon says completed US military withdrawal from Niger
Diplomat discourages recourse to pressure, intimidation, confrontation against Iran
UN: 2024 deadliest year for aid workers amid genocide in Gaza
Gaza health official warns of hospital shutdowns within 48 hours
Israel kills 5 more paramedics in southern Lebanon: Health ministry
Iran to launch ‘new, advanced’ centrifuges in response to IAEA resolution: AEOI
Yemen fires hypersonic missile at Israeli airbase
VIDEO | New Delhi chokes under toxic smog as air quality remains at hazardous levels
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
