Burkinabe Army Kills 32 Militants in Raid

Burkina Faso’s army has said it killed 32 militants they’ve labelled “terrorists” in two separate operations over the weekend.

Both the operations took place in the north of the country, the first of which resulted in the freeing of several women who were being held as sex slaves.

They say one soldier was also killed.

The first raid, in the Yorsala Forest in Loroum province, saw a number of women freed after being “held and used by the terrorists as sex slaves”, resulting in the deaths of 24 of the militants.

During the second operation, on the outskirts of Bourzanga in Bam province, eight armed men were killed, and arms, ammunition and other materials were recovered.

Both operations come less than a month after 37 employees of a Canadian mining company were killed in an ambush by Islamic militants.

Burkina Faso has witnessed a growing number of attacks by groups aligned with both Al Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State since 2015.

Along with Niger and Mali, its two other neighbours in the Sahel region, the army has been struggling to keep on top of a rising Islamic insurgency.

Despite the presence of troops from the regional G5 Sahel force, as well as French and American troops, the violence has intensified throughout the year, leading to almost 500,000 people to flee their homes.