“Prepare for them all your might and war-horses, that by them you may terrify the enemies of Allah and your enemies…” (Qur’an 8:60)
“Burkina Faso: Dozens of soldiers, civilians killed in jihadist-infested north,” North Africa Post, 31 Jan. 2023:
At least 28 people, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in two separate attacks by rebel fighters in northern Burkina Faso, the regional governor and the army said in separate statements.
The army said on Monday (Jan 30) that a combat unit was attacked in Falagauntu in the north of the country near its border with Niger, killing 10 soldiers, two fighters from the volunteer force and a civilian. The bodies of 15 people were found after an attack on the same day, Sunday (January 29), authorities in the country’s Cascades region, which borders Ivory Coast, said in a separate statement. Armed men stopped two transport vehicles carrying eight women and 16 men, the woman and one man were freed, while the rest of the men were reportedly shot dead.
The latest killings come as armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL in Burkina Faso — and its neighbors Mali and Niger — overran the country’s arid and largely rural north, killing hundreds of villagers and displacing nearly 2 million people. Fighters besieged towns and villages, worsening food shortages…