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Attack on Canadian Mining Company in Burkina Faso Kills 37 Attack on Canadian Mining Company Convoy in Burkina Faso Kills 37
(about 2 hours later)
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — An ambush on a convoy transporting employees of a Canadian mining company in Burkina Faso killed 37 people on Wednesday, the deadliest attack in nearly five years of jihadist violence in the West African country. Gunmen in Burkina Faso killed at least 37 people on Wednesday in an attack on a convoy carrying employees, suppliers and contractors of a Canadian mining company, one of the deadliest episodes in a recent tide of violence that has gripped the country.
The impoverished and politically fragile country has been struggling to quell a rising jihadist revolt that has claimed hundreds of lives since early 2015. The mining company, Semafo, which is based in Montreal, said that five buses escorted by Burkina Faso’s military were attacked while traveling to the Boungou mine, an open-pit gold mine in the eastern part of the country. They were on their way from the city of Fada-Ngourma, about 25 miles away.
On Wednesday morning “unidentified armed individuals” ambushed five buses carrying local employees, contractors and suppliers of the Semafo mining company, said Saidou Sanou, the governor of the country’s Est Region. Lt. Col. Saïdou T.P. Sanou, the governor of the country’s eastern region, confirmed the death toll in a statement and said that another 60 people had been wounded, but he offered no information about the victims’ identities.
Another 60 people were wounded, he said. Recent violence in Burkina Faso, a nation once known for its relative calm, has forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes, triggering a sudden humanitarian crisis. Between Aug. 6 and Sept. 30 alone, international organizations estimate, at least 26 military personnel were killed and 25 injured in attacks.
The mining company said the five buses were being escorted by the military and were approximately 25 miles from the Boungou gold mine in Tapoa Province when they were ambushed. Terrorist groups including the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and Ansaroul Islam are known to be active in the north of Burkina Faso.
Burkina Faso’s government said the gunmen had conducted a “complex attack,” and that security officials were searching the area. But attacks in the east and other parts of the country have, like Wednesday’s attack, gone unclaimed. Some analysts believe those attacks may be motivated by score settling, ethnic tension, monetary gain or personal disputes rather than terrorism driven by ideology or religion.
It was the third deadly attack on Semafo, which operates two mines in Burkina Faso, in 15 months. As the attacks have escalated, several military outposts in the northern part of the country have been abandoned by poorly trained and ill paid security forces.
“We are actively working with all levels of authorities to ensure the ongoing safety and security of our employees, contractors and suppliers,” the company said in a statement. Wednesday’s assault was the third deadly attack in 15 months against Semafo, which also operates a second mine in Burkina Faso. In December 2018, five people traveling to Boungou were killed in nearly the same spot. And in August of last year, Semafo said that a bus headed to the company’s other mine was held up by criminals and that gunfire was exchanged.
Two separate attacks on convoys carrying Boungou mine employees in August and December last year killed 11 people. After those attacks, Semafo began moving foreign employees by helicopter between Burkina Faso’s cities and its mines. It also said that it had tightened protection for locally hired employees who continued to travel by bus.
The company blamed “armed bandits” for last year’s attacks, and subsequently reinforced its armed escorts. Semafo said Wednesday that the Boungou mine, which opened in September 2018, had been secured and its operations were not affected.
Burkina Faso’s northern provinces have been battling a nearly five-year wave of jihadist violence that came from neighboring Mali.
The attacks — typically hit-and-run raids on villages, road mines and suicide bombings — have claimed nearly 700 lives across the country since early 2015. Almost 500,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.
The attacks have been claimed by a range of jihadist groups, including Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
The country’s badly equipped, poorly trained and underfunded security forces have been unable to stem the violence, which has intensified throughout 2019.
The Sahel region, including Burkina Faso’s neighbors Mali and Niger, has been afflicted by the violence despite the presence of a regional force, as well as French and American troops.