| April 2022 Namissiguima attack | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|  Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 40 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
16 killed
| Unknown | ||||||
On April 8, 2022, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed a Burkinabe military base near the town of Namissiguima, in Sanmatenga Province, Burkina Faso.
In 2015, northern Burkina Faso became embroiled in a jihadist insurgency, after Islamist groups from eastern Mali infiltrated north and central provinces. Sanmatenga province became a hotspot of violence, with attacks in 2019 ramping up and killing dozens of people. In January 2022, the elected president Roch Marc Christian Kaboré was overthrown by disgruntled military captains led by Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba over Kabore's mismanagement of the war. Despite this, in March 2022, over 30 people were killed in jihadist attacks in northern Burkina Faso. [1] The attack in Namissiguima was a response to battles in Barsalogho the previous day, where the Burkinabe army went on the offensive. [2] In the battles, twenty jihadists were killed. [2]
Around 5:00 am on April 8, around 40 gunmen attacked the town of Namissiguima and its military base, setting fire to houses and the local market. [3] [4] The Burkinabe government stated that their forces took heavy losses in relation to the jihadists, but did not give a toll for jihadist casualties, although RFI claimed there were some killed. [5] [2] A local elected official in the area stated that the jihadists were attempting to free several of their comrades that had been captured during the offensive in Barsalogho. [6]
The Burkinabe government stated twelve Burkinabe soldiers were killed, along with four VDP. [1] Twenty-one soldiers were injured as well. [5] The government also stated the arrival of reinforcements to the area. [1]
On 16 December 2016, jihadists from Ansarul Islam and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked a Burkinabe army outpost in Nassoumbou, Soum Province, Burkina Faso, killing twelve soldiers. The attack was the first claimed by Ansarul Islam, Burkina Faso's first homegrown jihadist movement that formed a month prior.
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.
On 3 May 2021, Islamic militants attacked Kodyel, a village in Foutouri, Burkina Faso. The attack left at least 30 people dead and another 20 injured.
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.
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.
On August 9, 2022, two bombings in Namssiguia, Bam Province, Burkina Faso killed 15 Burkinabe soldiers and injured an unknown number of others.
On August 4, 2022, jihadist militants ambushed a counter-terrorism operation organized by the Burkina Faso Armed Forces, killing four civilians and nine VDP militiamen. The Burkinabe government claimed that thirty-four insurgents were killed immediately after the attack.
In early July 2022, two separate massacres occurred in Bourasso, Kossi Province and Namissiguima Department, Yatenga Province in Burkina Faso. The massacre in Bourasso killed 22 people, and the one in Namissiguima killed 12.
On the night between December 31, 2018, and January 1, 2019, alleged Ansarul Islam jihadists attacked the village of Yirgou, in Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso. While initial reports claimed the attack killed six people, including the village chief and his son, later reports and investigations showed up to 210 people were killed.
The Ouahigouya ambush took place near Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso, between February 7 and 8, 2022. French forces launched an airstrike on Ansar ul Islam militants responsible for the November Inata attack that killed dozens of Burkinabe police officers.
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.
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 others were wounded in the attack.
On March 21, 2024, militants from the Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISGS) ambushed Nigerien soldiers between the towns of Teguey and Bankilare, Tillabéri Region, Niger killing at least 23 soldiers.
An attack on 24 August 2024 by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) terrorists, an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist organization, killed hundreds of soldiers of the Burkina Faso Armed Forces, as well as civilians who were digging defensive trenches in the Barsalogho Department of northern Burkina Faso. The attack is part of an ongoing jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso and the Sahel. It is the deadliest attack in the country's history.
On August 19, 2019, jihadists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked Burkinabe forces in Koutougou, Soum Province, Burkina Faso. 24 Burkinabe soldiers were killed in the attack, and Burkinabe authorities were forced to abandon military outposts in several northern Burkinabe towns following the attack. The attack was the deadliest jihadist attack in Burkinabe history up to that point.
On November 14, 2021, jihadists from Ansarul Islam and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked the mining town of Inata, Burkina Faso, the last place in Djibo Department under Burkinabe government control at the time of the attack. The Burkinabe outpost in Inata was overrun and over fifty soldiers were killed. The attack was the deadliest ambush against Burkinabe forces since the start of the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso in 2015, and was a primary reason for the January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état.
Between January 16 and 23, 2022, French and Burkinabe forces conducted a counter-jihadist operation in and around the cities of Gorom-Gorom and Djibo, both in northern Burkina Faso. The operation was the last major one conducted between French forces and Burkinabe ones before the January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état, and several dozen jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Ansarul Islam were killed or injured.
