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BURKINA-UNREST
Bomb kills 3 police officers in northwest Burkina Faso
OUAGADOUGOU, March 30, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A homemade bomb killed three
paramilitary gendarmes and wounded three more Sunday in northwest Burkina
Faso, security sources said.
The attack on the patrol happened at Gomboro, in the Boucle du Mouhoun
region, a security source told AFP.
The injured had been evacuated for treatment and the area was being
searched, the source added.
Another security source, confirming the attack, said two gendarmes had been
killed outright, and one of four others wounded had subsequently died of his
wounds.
Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have been the weapon of choice for
rebels in the region, and since 2018 they have killed 150 people, according
to an AFP tally. Such attacks are often followed by ambushes.
Four Burkinabe soldiers were killed and eight wounded early in March by two
IEDs that exploded as their vehicles passed them. The attack took place in
the north of the country.
Burkina Faso’s northwest border is with Mali, and to northeast is Niger,
and all three countries are fighting a long-running jihadist insurgency.
According to UN figures, jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger
left nearly 4,000 people dead last year.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0953 hrs