| Dounkoun ambush | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Burkina Faso |  Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 12 killed 8 injured | Unknown | ||||||
On August 8, 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed Burkinabe forces in Dounkoun, Toeni Department, Burkina Faso, killing twelve soldiers.
Since 2015, north and northeastern Burkina Faso has been embroiled in an insurgency by the Mali-based Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, the Niger-based Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, and the homegrown Burkinabe Ansarul Islam. The area of Toeni Department in northwest Burkina Faso, where Dounkoun is located, is an hotspot of JNIM activity, with a bus bombing in the area killing fourteen civilians. [1] Four days before the Dounkoun ambush, jihadists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara launched several coordinated attacks against civilians and soldiers in Oudalan Province. [2]
At around 3pm, a convoy escorting Burkinabe soldiers and troops from the elite Rapid Action Group for Surveillance and Intervention (GARSI) were ambushed by JNIM fighters near the village of Dounkoun. Several vehicles were destroyed and others were captured by JNIM. [3] The ambush was in retaliation for the killing of JNIM commander Sidibe Ousmane and religious trainer Bande Amadou. Ousmane and Amadou had been killed the day prior by Burkinabe forces between Diamasso and Bouni in Kossi Province. [2]
Twelve Burkinabe soldiers were killed in the ambush at Dounkoun and eight others were injured. Some soldiers were reported missing initially by the Burkinabe government, but they were found the next morning. [3]
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.
On 4 and 5 June 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) attacked the village of Solhan, Yagha Province, Burkina Faso. At least 160 people were killed in the massacres, making it the deadliest attacks up to that point in the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso since the start of the war in 2015.
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 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 Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin militants stopped two buses headed from Banfora to Mangodara near the village of Linguekoro, Comoé Province, Burkina Faso, and killed fifteen passengers.
On July 31, 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed Nigerien forces near Torodi, Tillabéri Region, Niger, killing 18 Nigerien soldiers.
On August 15, 2023, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) ambushed Nigerien soldiers near Koutougou, a village on the border between Niger and Mali. The ambush killed at least seventeen Nigerien soldiers, and was the first major attack by a jihadist group on Nigerien forces since the 2023 Nigerien coup d'état.
On March 2, 2023, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) attacked the village of Aorema, Yatenga Province, Burkina Faso. They killed fourteen civilians.
On April 15, 2023, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked a group of Burkinabe soldiers and civilian volunteers in the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) near Aorema, Yatenga Province, Burkina Faso, killing at least forty soldiers and VDP and injuring over thirty others. The attack occurred a month after a massacre against civilians by JNIM in Aorema that killed fourteen. Following the attack, Burkinabe soldiers searching for the perpetrators of the April attack killed over 130 civilians in the Karma massacre.
On December 27, 2018, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked Burkinabe soldiers in Loroni, northern Burkina Faso, killing ten soldiers. The attack was the deadliest incident for Burkinabe forces since the Nassoumbou attack in 2016.
On August 18, 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed a convoy of Burkinabe soldiers and civilians near Boukouma, Séno Province, Burkina Faso. The ambush sparked clashes between the jihadists and the soldiers, leaving dozens dead on both sides. At least 65 civilians were killed in the ambush as well.
On December 23, 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Ansarul Islam attacked Burkinabe forces in Titao, Loroum Province, Burkina Faso, killing 41 soldiers. The attack was one of the deadliest attacks against Burkinabe soldiers in the country's history, and occurred just over a month after an attack on Inata killed over fifty soldiers. News of the attack sparked protests across Burkina Faso.
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.
The siege of Madjoari began in February 2021 and lasted until May 25, 2022, as part of the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso. Jihadists from Ansarul Islam and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin began attacking the city, controlled by Burkinabe forces and the pro-government Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), and ambushed Burkinabe troops and cut off supply lines. Civilians in Madjoari starved, and almost all of them fled to elsewhere in Burkina Faso or to Benin. In May 2022, as the siege came to an end, the jihadists overran the Burkinabe military base and then massacred over fifty civilians fleeing in the Singou massacre.
On May 21, 2022, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked the city of Bourzanga, Burkina Faso, but the attack was repelled by Burkinabe and French forces.
The Tin-Ediar attack or Déou attack occurred on February 17, 2023 when Burkinabe soldiers were ambushed by the Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISGS) near the village of Tin-Ediar while travelling between Déou and Oursi, Burkina Faso. Over 70 Burkinabe soldiers were killed in the ambush, and Burkinabe authorities stated 160 ISGS fighters were killed.
On February 20, 2023, jihadists from the Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISGS) ambushed Burkinabe soldiers in Tin-Akoff, Oudalan Province, Burkina Faso. Between 15 and 100 Burkinabe soldiers were killed. The attack came just three days after the Tin-Ediar attack, where over seventy Burkinabe soldiers were killed in an ISGS attack.
On June 26, 2023, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed a Burkinabe convoy near Namssiguia, Bam Province, Burkina Faso. The attack and subsequent battle killed 34 Burkinabe soldiers, with Burkinabe authorities stating over 40 jihadists were killed.