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OUAGADOUGOU — Tuesday at At least 15 soldiers were killed when a transport vehicle passed over concealed explosives in northern Burkina Faso in 2009. did. There, soldiers and civilians are routinely targeted by Islamic extremists. Al Qaeda and Islamic State-linked groups have been active in the region since at least 2015.
caused heavy casualties," the statement said.
No group has been held responsible for the attack, but an investigation is underway to identify the perpetrators, the statement said.
He said the attack occurred less than 24 hours after unidentified fighters stormed another village in the north, killing five civilians and five volunteers. The region's governor said in a separate statement on Tuesday.
A week before that, Islamist militants killed four of his soldiers and nine of his militiamen in another Bam state ambush.
Army officers, angered by escalating attacks, overthrew Burkina Faso's president in January and vowed to improve security, but levels of violence remain high.
This violence displaced more than 1.85 million people in Burkina Faso alone and killed thousands across the Sahel region of West Africa. (Reporting by Thiam Ndiaga, Writing by Cooper Inveen, Editing by Josie Kao)
