Infants are among the sixty people kidnapped last week in northern Burkina Faso by suspected jihadists, said Thursday the prosecutor of Djibo (north), who announced that an investigation had been opened.
“On January 14, my prosecutor’s office was informed by judicial police officers of the case of the kidnapping of around sixty women and infants by unidentified armed men in the vicinity of the town of Arbinda (north) “Wrote the prosecutor in a press release. The previous assessment reported regarding fifty women abducted.
Investigation “immediately” opened
“These abductions were reportedly carried out on January 12 and 13 respectively in the villages of Liki-Boukouma with around forty victims, and Sirigni with around twenty victims,” he explained.
“The victims were looking for edible wild leaves and fruits when they were apprehended and taken to the localities of Gasseliki and Gorguel”, according to the prosecutor who specified that an investigation had been “immediately opened in order to identify and arrest the perpetrators”.
Jihadist blockade
Arbinda is located in the Sahel region, an area under blockade of jihadist groups, with difficulty being supplied with food, which pushes the inhabitants to seek food outside the villages. On Monday, the governor of the region of SahelLieutenant-Colonel Rodolphe Sorgho, had indicated that research was underway to find these people kidnapped in the north of the country.
“All means are implemented, on the ground and air plan to find these women”, had added to AFP a security source, ensuring that “aircraft fly over the area to detect any suspicious movement”. the Burkina Fasoespecially in its northern half, has been confronted since 2015 with attacks by groups jihadists linked to Al-Qaida and the Islamic State, which are multiplying. They left thousands dead and at least two million displaced.
