France claims to have dealt Daesh a "heavy blow" in new operations in Burkina Faso

The French army has claimed to have dealt a "heavy blow" to the jihadist group Islamic State in the Great Sahara (ISGS) during a series of operations carried out at the end of April by its troops in Burkina Faso. The French armed forces have indicated that 'Operation Barkhane' carried out an operation during the night of 27 April which made it possible to "neutralise many terrorists", to destroy vehicles and to seize arms and material north of the town of Gorom Gorom (north-east).

"This action by the 'Barkhane' force is a new blow to ISGS in Burkina Faso, which has seen its freedom of action and capacity to act reduced," they said in a statement published on their website. In it, he added that French troops "have knocked out many terrorists" in another operation in the region of Liptako-Gourma, in the border area between Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali.

The presidents of France and the G5 countries of the Sahel - Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger - agreed in January to strengthen their military cooperation during a summit in the French city of Pau, with a special focus on ISGS. The African country's authorities recently extended the curfew imposed on the region. This was established because of the upsurge in attacks by jihadist groups, and the authorities have sounded the alarm due to the operations of these formations in this area of the country.

The president of the Eastern Regional Council, Paripouguini Lompo, warned on Monday that several localities have become no-man's-land due to the absence of the security forces, while the mayor of Fada N'Gourma, Jean-Claude Louari, said the population is afraid. Burkina Faso, like neighbouring Mali, has seen a sharp increase in jihadist attacks in recent years, by both al-Qaeda and Daesh affiliates in the region.

This activity has also contributed to an increase in inter-community violence and has led to the flourishing of self-defence groups, which the Burkinabe government has added volunteers to assist in the fight against terrorism in recent months. More than 800,000 people have been displaced in the country as a result. The growing instability in the Sahel, shaken by an upsurge in jihadist attacks, has been a source of concern to the international community because of the strategic importance of the area.