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An attack by suspected terrorists on a specialised police unit has left up to 12 officers dead in eastern Burkina Faso, security sources said on Monday.
According to a security source, the assault occurred on Friday afternoon when militants targeted members of the Mobile Intervention Units Group (GUMI) stationed in Yamba, a town near Fada N’Gourma, the capital of the eastern Goulmou region.
Initial reports compiled shortly after the attack indicated that at least seven police officers were killed, while several others were initially unaccounted for.
“On Friday afternoon, an enemy horde carried out an attack against members of the Mobile Intervention Units Group (GUMI) in Yamba, near Fada N’Gourma.
“A provisional toll drawn up a few hours after the attack reported seven fallen police officers and many missing,” the source told AFP.
Another security official later said more than a dozen bodies had been discovered at the scene, adding that the victims were officers from the GUMI unit whose weapons and ammunition had been taken by the attackers.
Following the incident, surviving members of the unit stationed in Yamba were escorted to Fada N’Gourma for safety.
The GUMI units were established in October 2023 as part of efforts to combat insurgent groups and reclaim territory lost to militants.
Burkina Faso has been grappling with escalating violence since 2015, with conflict monitoring group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) reporting that tens of thousands of people have been killed during the crisis, more than half of them within the past three years.
