OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — An affiliate of Al Qaeda, known as Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), has claimed responsibility for a deadly assault on a military outpost in Burkina Faso’s northern Loroum province, in which the group said it killed 60 soldiers, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
The U.S.-based organization, which monitors jihadist activity online, reported Tuesday that JNIM issued statements on Monday and Tuesday asserting responsibility for four separate attacks across Burkina Faso and Mali, underscoring the persistent threat posed by jihadist militants in the increasingly unstable Sahel region.
The most lethal of the reported incidents occurred in the town of Sole, where JNIM fighters allegedly overran a Burkinabe army post, killing dozens of soldiers. SITE did not specify the exact date of the Sole attack. Burkina Faso’s military authorities have not publicly commented on the assault.
Another JNIM-led attack, according to SITE, took place in Gnagna province, in eastern Burkina Faso, where 10 members of the pro-government Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) militia were reportedly killed.
Separately, Ousmane Dicko, identified by SITE as the JNIM leader in Burkina Faso, appeared in a video urging residents of Djibo, a northern town that has faced repeated militant assaults, to evacuate for their safety.
Security sources told Reuters that Djibo’s army base was attacked early Sunday, with additional assaults on the town’s police station and market. Witnesses described a devastating siege involving hundreds of insurgents, resulting in what they said was the death of dozens of soldiers and civilians.
“The population saw soldiers burnt in the flames of explosions,” a local teacher told Reuters. “Multiple military arsenals were taken and civilians were killed by gunfire.”
The Burkinabe government has not released an official death toll for the attack on Djibo.
On Wednesday, a series of videos emerged on social media purporting to show unidentified insurgents on motorbikes and on foot moving through Diapaga, a town near the border with Niger and Mali. Gunfire could be heard in some footage, while other clips depicted insurgents tearing down flags of the military juntas and Russia. Reuters has not independently verified the authenticity of the videos.
Burkina Faso, along with Mali and Niger, is governed by military juntas that have struggled to contain expanding jihadist violence. Since 2020, militant groups linked to both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State have intensified their campaigns across the tri-border Sahel region, killing thousands and displacing millions.
“JNIM is demonstrating that it can seize major towns with little deterrence from security forces,” said Beverly Ochieng, a senior analyst at Control Risks, a global risk consultancy. “It is likely to continue mounting such attacks in its strongholds.”
The latest string of violence comes as Western and regional efforts to combat terrorism in the Sahel continue to unravel, particularly following the withdrawal of French troops and the expulsion of UN peacekeepers in Mali. The resulting power vacuum has emboldened insurgent groups and weakened national defenses.
JNIM remains one of the most active and lethal jihadist groups in the region. Designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and other international bodies, it has expanded its operations in recent years by exploiting weak governance and intercommunal tensions.
