Ouagadougou or Wagadugu is the capital of Burkina Faso, and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic centre of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,415,266 in 2019. The city's name is often shortened to Ouaga. The inhabitants are called ouagalais. The spelling of the name Ouagadougou is derived from the French orthography common in former French African colonies.
Al-Mourabitoun was an African militant jihadist organization formed by a merger between Ahmed Ould Amer, a.k.a. Ahmed al-Tilemsi's Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa and Mokhtar Belmokhtar's Al-Mulathameen. On 4 December 2015, it joined Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group sought to implement Sharia law in Mali, Algeria, southwestern Libya, and Niger.
On 15 January 2016, gunmen armed with heavy weapons attacked the Cappuccino restaurant and the Splendid Hotel in the heart of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The number of fatalities reached 30, while at least 56 were wounded; a total of 176 hostages were released after a government counter-attack into the next morning as the siege ended. Three perpetrators were also killed. The nearby YIBI hotel was then under siege, where another attacker was killed. Notably, former Swiss MPs Jean-Noël Rey and Georgie Lamon were killed. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Mourabitoun.
On the night of 1 July 2016, at 21:20 local time, five militants took hostages and opened fire on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Gulshan Thana. The assailants entered the bakery with crude bombs, machetes, pistols, and took several dozen hostages. In the immediate response, while Dhaka Metropolitan Police tried to regain control of the bakery, two police officers were shot dead by the assailants.
On 18 December 2016, a series of shootings took place in the city of Al-Karak in southern Jordan. The attack started in the vicinity of Al-Karak where a group of unidentified militants ambushed emergency responders and then moved into the city, attacking police patrols and the local police station and finally seeking shelter in the historic Crusader-era Kerak Castle, a popular tourist attraction.
On 2 March 2018, at least eight heavily armed militants launched an assault on key locations throughout Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso. Targets included the French embassy and the headquarters of Burkina Faso's military.
On 19 January 2019, the government of Burkina Faso dissolved due to the resignation of Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba and all members of his cabinet. President of Burkina Faso Roch Marc Christian Kaboré announced that he intends to form a new government; on 21 January, he began the process of appointing a new government by naming Christophe Joseph Marie Dabiré as the new Prime Minister, but his cabinet remains vacant. In the days leading up to the resignation of the government, the country faced a number of attacks from militant terrorist groups, and opposition members of government had previously called for the prime minister and defense ministries to step down, citing an inability to address terrorist attacks.
Terrorism in Burkina Faso refers to non-state actor violence in Burkina Faso carried out with the intent of causing fear and spreading extremist ideology. Terrorist activity primarily involves religious terrorism conducted by foreign-based organizations, although some activity occurs because of communal frustration over the lack of economic development. Recent attacks have concentrated in the Hauts-Bassins, Boucle du Mouhoun, Nord, Sahel, and Est regions, along the border with Mali and Niger. A series of attacks in Ouagadougou in 2016, 2017, and 2018 by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its affiliates garnered international attention.
On May 9, 2019, French special operations forces conducted a rescue operation in Northern Burkina Faso, that resulted in the deaths of two French petty officers, four out of six gunmen, and the recovery of all four hostages of French, American, and South Korean nationality. The operation was conducted by approximately 24 operators from Commando Hubert, the 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, and the Air Parachute Commando n° 10, CPA 10, with intelligence and overhead support from the United States Military.
Burkina Faso–Spain relations are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between these two countries. Burkina Faso does not have an embassy in Spain, but its embassy in Paris, France, is accredited to Spain. and consulates in Almería, Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia. Spain has no embassy in Burkina Faso, but its embassy in Abidjan, Ivory Coast is accredited to Burkina Faso, and a consulate in Ouagadougou.
The Sanmatenga attacks occurred on 8 September 2019 in the Sanmatenga Province, Burkina Faso. In the Barsalogho Department a vehicle transporting people and goods, that was returning from a market, drove over an improvised explosive device (IED). 15 passengers were killed and six were injured in the IED attack. Most of the victims were traders. Meanwhile, around 50 km to the east, a convoy with vans carrying provisions for people displaced by fighting was attacked by gunmen. In this attack, 14 people were killed. It is unknown who carried out this attacks.
The Salmossi mosque attack occurred on the evening of Friday, 11 October 2019 in a mosque in Oudalan Province, Burkina Faso which left 16 people dead and two injured. It happened while the residents were praying inside the Grand Mosque in Salmossi, a village close to the border with Mali. AFP reported that 13 people died on the spot while 3 died later due to the injuries.
The Dolmané gold mine attack occurred on 4 October 2019 near Madouji, Arbinda Department, Soum Province, Burkina Faso. The Dolmané gold mining site was attacked by suspected Islamic terrorists. The attack took place not far from where a bridge linking two northern towns was blown up in mid-September. At least 20 persons, mostly people that worked in the gold mine, were killed and an unknown number of people were injured. Both Islamic State and al-Qaeda have affiliated groups in the region. It is unknown which of the two was responsible for this attack.
On 16 February 2020 a large group of gunmen attacked a Protestant service being hosted in the village of Pansi, Burkina Faso. Pansi, a rural village in Yagha Province in the Sahel Region of Burkina Faso, was targeted by terrorists who wanted to loot supplies and dissuade the local population from attending or supporting church services.
On 4 and 5 June 2021, insurgents attacked the Solhan and Tadaryat villages in the Yagha Province of Burkina Faso. The massacres left at least 174 people dead. Insurgents have been attacking the Sahel Region, along the border with Mali, since Islamists captured parts of Mali in 2013.
An ongoing war and civil conflict between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels began in August 2015 and has led to the displacement of over 2 million people and the deaths of at least 10,000 civilians and combatants.
On 25 May 2022, armed assailants suspected to be jihadists attacked the rural locality of Madjoari in the Kompienga Province of Burkina Faso. The massacre left at least 50 civilians dead as they were attempting to flee a blockade. It was the third attack to take place in Madjoari in May 2022, after an attack on 14 May that killed 17 civilians and another on 19 May that killed 11 soldiers.
An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.
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