2023 Diapaga attacks | |
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Part of Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso | |
Location | Diapaga, Burkina Faso |
Attack type | Mass shooting |
Deaths | 15+ |
Perpetrators | Jihadists (suspected) |
On November 21, 2023, a mass shooting occurred in Diapaga, Burkina Faso, when coordinated and synchronized attacks that killed at least 15, predominately civilians. These attacks, believed to be perpetrated by jihadists, targeted two neighborhoods in Diapaga, inflicting casualties including three Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP, civilian auxiliaries to the army) and twelve civilians. [1]
Schools, markets, and public services in the region were suspended to honor the victims. [2] The town observed a day of 'ville morte' (dead city) as a tribute. The victims were buried at the Diapaga municipal cemetery. [3]
A security source confirmed that the defense forces counteracted the attack, reportedly neutralizing several dozen assailants and conducting an ongoing air-land operation in the eastern region that had neutralized over fifty terrorists and dismantled several bases. The attack was a flashpoint in a larger conflict that has been ongoing since 2015, attributed to jihadist groups linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. [1]
Diapaga is a city in, and the capital of, Tapoa Province, situated in eastern Burkina Faso. The main ethnic group in the city are the Gourmantché. It is a major centre for health services in the region. The W Park militant group of Burkina Faso are reported to have their headquarters in the town.
Operation Barkhane was a counterinsurgency operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region and consisted of a roughly 3,000-strong French force, which was permanently headquartered in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. The operation was led in co-operation with five countries, all of which are former French colonies that span the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Mali was a part of the operation until August 2022. The countries are collectively referred to as the "G5 Sahel". The operation was named after a crescent-shaped dune type that is common in the Sahara desert.
Jama'at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin is a Salafi Jihadist organisation in the Maghreb and West Africa formed by the merger of Ansar Dine, the Macina Liberation Front, al-Mourabitoun and the Saharan branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Its leaders swore allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The Islamic State – Sahel Province(ISSP), formerly known as Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS), is an Islamist militant group adhering to the ideology of Salafi Jihadism. IS-GS was formed on 15 May 2015 as the result of a split within the militant group Al-Mourabitoun. The rift was a reaction to the adherence of one of its leaders, Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, to the Islamic State. From March 2019 to 2022, IS-GS was formally part of the Islamic State – West Africa Province (ISWAP); when it was also called "ISWAP-Greater Sahara". In March 2022, IS declared the province autonomous, separating it from its West Africa Province and naming it Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP).
On December 24, 2019, militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the Burkinabe government military base in Arbinda, Sahel Region, Burkina Faso along with the town of Arbinda itself. The attack was halted due to French and Burkinabe air intervention, although 35 civilians were killed in the jihadists' massacre. The Arbinda attack was the deadliest incident in the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso in several years.
In 2019, there were many attacks in the African country Burkina Faso on both soldiers and civilians. These are contextualized by the ongoing Islamist insurgency in Burkina Faso.
Events in the year 2021 in Mali.
Since 2015, the border area between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger has been a hotbed for jihadist forces originating from Mali. The insurgency has taken place in two distinct regions of Niger. In southwest, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and the Nusrat al-Islam have carried out attacks in the tri-border area with Burkina Faso and Mali. Meanwhile, in the southeast, the Islamic State in the West African Province has established control in parts of southern Niger.
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.
The Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland is an armed self-defense group in Burkina Faso created to fight jihadist insurgents. It is an auxiliary force supporting the Burkina Faso Armed Forces.
On 25 May 2022, jihadists from Ansarul Islam or Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked civilians fleeing the towns of Madjoari and Tabarga, Kompienga Province, Burkina Faso during the siege of Madjoari. The jihadists intercepted the refugees near the town of Singou, and separated the men from the women, elderly, and children. Over fifty civilians were executed by the jihadists, and fifty more were alleged to be missing. The massacre was the culmination of an offensive that began several weeks prior, with jihadists killing seventeen civilians in Madjoari on May 14 and overrunning the Burkinabe base in the town on May 19.
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.
The siege of Djibo is an ongoing blockade of the city of Djibo in Burkina Faso by several factions of Jihadist Islamist rebels. The siege began in February 2022, and is part of the Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso.
Events in the year 2023 in Mali.
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 24, 2022, militants from Katibat Macina attacked Malian Army bases in the cities of Sévaré, Niono, and Bapho, all in central Mali's Mopti Region. The attacks killed fifteen soldiers and six civilians.
On January 11, 2023, unknown jihadists killed nine civilians at a mosque in Goulgountou, Burkina Faso.
On August 8, 2024, a convoy of Burkinabe army vehicles headed to Fada N'Gourma from Diapaga were ambushed by militants from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), killing between 150 and 200 Burkinabe soldiers and militiamen. While the Burkinabe junta has not released a statement confirming the death toll, the attack marks the deadliest incident against Burkinabe soldiers since the start of the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso.