Event
2023 battle in Burkina Faso
On June 26, 2023, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed a Burkinabe convoy near Namssiguia, Bam Province, Burkina Faso. The attack and subsequent battle killed 34 Burkinabe soldiers, with Burkinabe authorities stating over 40 jihadists were killed.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “2023 Namsiguia ambush”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
On June 26, 2023, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed a Burkinabe convoy near Namssiguia, Bam Province, Burkina Faso. The attack and subsequent battle killed 34 Burkinabe soldiers, with Burkinabe authorities stating over 40 jihadists were killed.
Violence by jihadist groups increased exponentially since the September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état that overthrew putschist Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who came to power in a coup that January. Much of the violence was caused by the al-Qaeda-aligned Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin and its affiliates in Burkina Faso and the Islamic State – Sahil Province, which have besieged towns and launched deadly attacks on Burkinabe soldiers and pro-government militiamen.
Namsiguia had previously been a target of jihadists, with a bombing in August 2022 killing 15 Burkinabe soldiers. An attack on civilians in the town in January killed nine people.
At the time of the attack, the convoy was returning from the besieged city of Djibo, which had been blockaded by jihadist groups including JNIM since 2022. In a press release, Burkinabe authorities stated that the fighting between the two groups after the attack was violent. The Burkinabe government stated that 31 soldiers and three pro-government VDP militiamen were killed, and twenty more were injured. Around ten others were reported missing as well. The statement also claimed forty jihadists were killed.
The Namsiguia convoy attack occurred the same day as jihadists stormed a VDP base in Noaka, killing over thirty VDPs.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2023 Namsiguia ambush”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.