Burkinabe soldiers perform casualty carry under notional fire in preparation for participating in Exercise Flintlock 2019, near Po, Burkina Faso, Feb. 17, 2019. Flintlock is an annual African-led, integrated military and law enforcement exercise that has strengthened key partner nation forces throughout North and West Africa as well as western special operations forces since 2005. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Mary S. Katzenberger)
Four French soldiers were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in northern Burkina Faso, the army said on Tuesday evening.
The four soldiers; one of whom was seriously wounded have been evacuated towards Gao in Mali, French media reports said.
“(Their) off-road vehicle activated an IED as it left Ouahigouya airport,” the army said in a statement, adding the unit was part of the Barkhane operation, Paris’ deployment in the Sahel against a jihadist insurgency.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been struggling with jihadist attacks when militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group began mounting cross-border raids from Mali.
Since the start of its military intervention in Mali in 2013, the French army has killed several high-ranking members of ISGS.
But in June last year, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a major scale back in the Barkhane mission to refocus on counter-terrorism operations and supporting local forces.
Over 2,000 people have died from the attacks.
