| April 2022 Namissiguima attack | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofJihadist 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 fromJama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed a Burkinabe military base near the town ofNamissiguima, inSanmatenga 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 ofviolence, withattacks in 2019 ramping up and killing dozens of people. In January 2022, the elected presidentRoch Marc Christian Kaboré wasoverthrown by disgruntled military captains led byPaul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba over Kabore's mismanagement of thewar. 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 inBarsalogho 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 tohouses and the local market.[3][4] The Burkinabe government stated that their forces took heavy losses in relation to thejihadists, but did not give a toll for jihadist casualties, althoughRFI 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 fourVDP.[1] Twenty-one soldiers were injured as well.[5] The government also stated the arrival of reinforcements to the area.[1]
