Spaniards Among Four Missing In Burkina Faso Attack
A Burkina Faso gendarme stands guard outside the Splendid hotel following a jihadist attack in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on January 16, 2016. (AFP)
Two Spaniards are among a group of people kidnapped in Burkina Faso, a foreign ministry source in Madrid said Tuesday, after an anti-poaching patrol was attacked in the landlocked West African nation.
Four people in total are missing after the attack in the country's east -- including another European and a Burkinabe -- after the targeted attack Monday.
"There are two Spanish nationals whose whereabouts are unknown in Burkina Faso," a foreign ministry source told AFP in Madrid.
The group was composed of soldiers, forest rangers and foreign reporters and was targeted in the Fada N'Gourma-Pama area, according to a local official, who added "the provisional toll reports three people injured, four missing".
The attack was also confirmed by security sources, with one saying the Westerners also included an Irishman along with the two Spaniards, "all of whom were working on behalf of an NGO protecting the environment".
"According to survivors, two of the foreigners were wounded during the attack. The search is ongoing" to find the four missing people, added the source.
The attackers used two pick-up vehicles and a dozen motorbikes, according to security sources.
The Spanish foreign ministry source said its embassy in Mali, which is accredited in Burkina Faso, "is in close contact with the families who are being kept informed about the events and the searches to find" the two Spaniards.
One of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso is struggling with a ruthless insurgency by armed Islamists who swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.
Almost 1,100 people have died and more than a million people have fled their homes.
In January this year, a priest went missing in the country's southeast, sparking fears he had been kidnapped.
Last August, the grand imam of the northern town of Djibo, was found dead three days after gunmen stopped the car he was travelling in and kidnapped him.
In March 2019, a priest in Djibo was kidnapped, and in February 2018, a Catholic missionary, Cesar Fernandez, was murdered in the centre of the country.
© Agence France-Presse
Four people in total are missing after the attack in the country's east -- including another European and a Burkinabe -- after the targeted attack Monday.
"There are two Spanish nationals whose whereabouts are unknown in Burkina Faso," a foreign ministry source told AFP in Madrid.
The group was composed of soldiers, forest rangers and foreign reporters and was targeted in the Fada N'Gourma-Pama area, according to a local official, who added "the provisional toll reports three people injured, four missing".
The attack was also confirmed by security sources, with one saying the Westerners also included an Irishman along with the two Spaniards, "all of whom were working on behalf of an NGO protecting the environment".
"According to survivors, two of the foreigners were wounded during the attack. The search is ongoing" to find the four missing people, added the source.
The attackers used two pick-up vehicles and a dozen motorbikes, according to security sources.
The Spanish foreign ministry source said its embassy in Mali, which is accredited in Burkina Faso, "is in close contact with the families who are being kept informed about the events and the searches to find" the two Spaniards.
One of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso is struggling with a ruthless insurgency by armed Islamists who swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.
Almost 1,100 people have died and more than a million people have fled their homes.
In January this year, a priest went missing in the country's southeast, sparking fears he had been kidnapped.
Last August, the grand imam of the northern town of Djibo, was found dead three days after gunmen stopped the car he was travelling in and kidnapped him.
In March 2019, a priest in Djibo was kidnapped, and in February 2018, a Catholic missionary, Cesar Fernandez, was murdered in the centre of the country.
© Agence France-Presse