2022 Namsiguia bombing

Last updated
2022 Namsiguia bombing
Part of Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso
Location Namssiguia, Bam Province, Burkina Faso
DateAugust 9, 2022
Deaths15 soldiers
Injured1+ [1]
Perpetrator AQIM or Islamic State affiliates (alleged by Burkina Faso) [2]

On August 9, 2022, two bombings in Namssiguia, Bam Province, Burkina Faso killed 15 Burkinabe soldiers and injured an unknown number of others. [3]

Contents

Background

Throughout the early 2010s, jihadist movements spread widely throughout the Sahel, and reached Burkina Faso in 2015. [4] Since then, the Burkinabe government has struggled to hold back both the Islamist insurgents and the tribal warfare and violence, which has escalated since the war's outbreak. [5] In early 2022, the Burkinabe military under Paul-Henri Damiba overthrew President Roch Kaboré, citing the latter's inability to control the violence as a reason for the coup. [6] However, jihadist attacks continued in Burkina Faso throughout 2022. [7]

Bombing

Prior to the bombing, jihadists had raided a nearby village and killed five civilians and five militiamen. [8] While Burkinabe soldiers were driving in the region, one truck hit a roadside IED, killing several troops. A second explosion went off after another convoy of soldiers arrived on the scene to help the wounded, killing them too. [9]

Related Research Articles

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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.

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.

On 6 November 2019, gunmen ambushed a convoy transporting workers of the Canadian mining firm Semafo near the city of Fada N’Gourma, on a road to the firm's Boungou mine. At least 37 people were killed, and dozens more are missing or injured.

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On September 5, 2022, a bus travelling from Djibo to the Burkinabe capital of Ouagadougou hit a mine outside the town of Silgadji, killing 35 people and injured dozens more.

On September 26, 2022, a convoy bound for the besieged city of Djibo in northern Burkina Faso was attacked by armed gunmen, killing 27 soldiers and 10 civilians. The Mali-based jihadist group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Gaskinde attack was a key reason for the September 30 coup in Burkina Faso, as many frontline officers were disgruntled about Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba's handling of the jihadist insurgency.

On October 13, 2022, an IED hit a civilian bus travelling along the Bandiagara-Goundaka highway in rural Mali, killing 10 civilians and injuring dozens more. The attack was alleged to be coordinated by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).

On April 8, 2022, unknown jihadists ambushed a Burkinabe military base near the town of Namissiguima, in Sanmatenga Province, Burkina Faso.

On March 20, 2022, unknown jihadists ambushed Burkinabe soldiers in Natiaboani, Gourma Province, Burkina Faso, killing thirteen soldiers and an unknown number of jihadists.

On October 29, 2022, gunmen from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin ambushed a convoy of Burkinabé soldiers near the village of Kikideni while they were on their way from Fada N'gourma to Natiaboani, Est Region, Burkina Faso.

On January 28, 2023, suspected Islamic State jihadists attacked Burkinabe soldiers and Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) militiamen in the city of Falagountou, Burkina Faso.

The Toeni bus bombing occurred when a school bus drove over an improvised explosive device in Toeni, Burkina Faso, killing fourteen people and injuring nine others on January 4, 2020.

On May 30, 2020, unknown militants ambushed an aid convoy escorted by Burkinabe gendarmes near the town of Barsalogho as it was returning from delivering food to civilians in Sanmatenga Province, Burkina Faso. Thirteen people were killed and forty were wounded in the attack.

References

  1. "Twin Blasts Kill 15 Burkina Faso Troops, Army Says".
  2. "Burkina Faso: Bomb attack targeting military convoy in Namsiguia, Bam province, leaves 15 people dead Aug. 9".
  3. "Burkina Faso: Bomb attack targeting military convoy in Namsiguia, Bam province, leaves 15 people dead Aug. 9". Burkina Faso: Bomb attack targeting military convoy in Namsiguia, Bam province, leaves 15 people dead Aug. 9 | Crisis24. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  4. "Le Burkina, nouvelle terre de l'insurrection islamiste". LEFIGARO (in French). 28 February 2017. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  5. Brandon-Smith, Heather (August 24, 2022). "Zawahiri May Be Gone, but the War on Terror's Failures Remain". Friends Committee On National Legislation. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  6. Paguette, Danielle (January 25, 2022). "With Burkina Faso's coup, military rule expands in West Africa". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 7, 2022.
  7. "Mali and Burkina Faso: Did the coups halt jihadist attacks?". BBC News. 2022-07-29. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  8. Ndiaga, Thiam (2022-08-09). "Roadside bomb in northern Burkina Faso kills 15 soldiers". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-09-07.
  9. "At least 15 soldiers killed in northern Burkina Faso blasts: Army". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2022-09-07.