| Battle of Falagountou | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Islamic State - Sahil Province | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 10 soldiers killed 2 VDP killed 5 injured 10 missing | 15 killed | ||||||
| 1 civilian killed | |||||||
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 Burkinabe government has been fighting a jihadist insurgency in northern Burkina Faso since 2015, when Ansarul Islam militants captured swathes of territory along the Burkinabe-Malian border. [1] This escalated in 2017, when Malian jihadist group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin allied with Ansarul Islam, and began fighting in Burkina Faso as well. [1] In January 2022, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba overthrew President Roch Kaboré due to the latter's inefficiency in fighting the jihadists. Damiba himself was overthrown that September by Ibrahim Traoré, who ramped up conscription of VDPs, pro-government militiamen. [2] Traore has used VDPs as cannon fodder, with loose training that has seen many casualties. [3]
On January 11, 2023, unknown jihadists attacked several VDP posts near Goulgountou before killing several civilians at the town's mosque. Burkinabe forces announced counter-terrorist operations in the area, which included most of Falagountou Department, following the attack. [4] This counteroffensive recaptured most of Falagountou Department. [5] The Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISGS) is active in the Falagountou area. [6]
Jihadists attacked the VDP base in Falagountou on January 28, in preparation for an attack on the village on January 30. [7] Clashes broke out between the jihadists and the VDP, along with the Burkinabe Army. [8] The Burkinabe government stated that twelve people were killed in the attack, including ten soldiers and two VDP. [7] One civilian was killed in the crossfire. [7] The press release also stated that ten soldiers were still missing and five were injured. [7] The Burkinabe government also claimed the deaths of fifteen jihadists. [8] [9]
No group claimed responsibility for the attack on Falagountou, although Burkinabe journalists suspected the Islamic State due to its presence nearby. [6] On February 15, a Burkinabe army counteroffensive in the department arrested sixteen men in Ekeou village, and two more in Goulgountou, before summarily executing at least ten of them at the VDP base in Falagountou. [10]
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.
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.
A coup d'état took place in Burkina Faso on 30 September 2022, removing Interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba over his alleged inability to deal with the country's Islamist insurgency. Damiba had come to power in a coup d'état eight months earlier. Captain Ibrahim Traoré took over as interim leader.
Ibrahim Traoré is a Burkinabè military officer who has been the interim leader of Burkina Faso since the 30 September 2022 coup d'état which ousted interim president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. At age 36, Traoré is currently the second youngest serving state leader in the world, and the youngest serving president.
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.
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 April 8, 2022, unknown jihadists ambushed a Burkinabe military base near the town of Namissiguima, in Sanmatenga Province, Burkina Faso.
On December 7, 2022, ten Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland militants, a Burkinabe civilian militia, were killed at a market in Boala Department, Centre-Nord Region, Burkina Faso. A second attack on December 10 killed seven civilians.
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.
The battle of Boulikessi took place between September 30 and October 1, 2019. Jihadists from JNIM and Ansarul Islam attacked Malian bases in Boulikessi and Mondoro, killing between 40 and 85 Malian soldiers, making it the deadliest attack for the Malian army since the Second Battle of Kidal in 2014.
On 26 September 2023, dissidents of the Burkina Faso Armed Forces attempted to overthrow the ruling military junta led by Ibrahim Traoré, which came to power a year earlier.
On December 30, 2022, dozo militants affiliated with the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) killed over 88 civilians in Nouna, Burkina Faso.
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.
Between April 29 and 30, 2017, French forces launched an offensive against jihadists from Ansarul Islam and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin based in the Foulsaré forest in southern Mali. The operation was dubbed Operation Bayard by the French.
On January 12 and 13, 2023, jihadists kidnapped sixty-six people in two separate incidents near Arbinda, Burkina Faso. The abducted civilians were eventually freed by the Burkinabe military on January 20. The kidnappings were the first of their kind to target women during the insurgency.
On January 11, 2023, unknown jihadists killed nine civilians at a mosque in Goulgountou, Burkina Faso.
