A military operation has freed 62 women and four children kidnapped by jihadists in Burkina Faso

a military operation 62 women and four children kidnapped a week ago by suspected jihadists released on Friday in northern Burkina Faso, public television and a military source from this West African country said.

Burkinabe Radio-Television (RTB) showed on its news the images of women released in an “operation” by the armed forces and who were taken to the capital, Ouagadougou. A source from the security forces confirmed this information to the news agency AFP extension.

Several children are among nearly 60 people abducted last week in northern Burkina Faso by suspected jihadists, the prosecutor of Djibo in the north of this West African country said on Thursday.

“On January 14, the prosecutor’s office was informed by the Judicial Police of the kidnapping of about sixty women and children by unidentified armed men in the municipality of Arbinda,” the prosecutor said in a statement.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the kidnappings took place on January 12 and 13, when the victims were looking for edible wild fruits. The person in charge specified that an investigation has been opened “to identify and arrest the perpetrators” of the group kidnapping.

Arbinda is located in a Sahel region blocked by jihadist groups, where few supplies arrive, forcing the inhabitants to leave their villages to look for food.

The governor of the Sahel region, Lieutenant Colonel Rodolphe Sorgho, said on Monday that searches were underway to locate the abducted people.

Since 2015, the northern part of the country has suffered attacks by jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda or the Islamic State organization. those operations they have caused thousands of deaths and forced the displacement of more than two million people.

Before the release, the chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, called for the “immediate release” of the abducted women and girls. Mahamat condemned “with the utmost firmness” the kidnapping, which took place between 12 and 13 January in the area of ​​the town of Arbinda, in the Sahel region, on the border with Mali and Niger, by unidentified armed men.

The president of the Commission (secretariat) called for “the immediate release of the abducted women and girls, including their safe return to their families and communities”. He also urged national authorities “to spare no effort to bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice”.

Furthermore, Mahamat said he was “particularly concerned about attacks against women and girls by armed groups as part of their strategy to terrorize communities” and reiterated the AU’s solidarity with Burkina Faso.

Some women had managed to escape the terrorists and alerted the authorities shortly after being attacked.

Burkina Faso ruled by the military who carried out a coup

In addition, the country suffered two coups last year: one on January 24, led by Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, and another on September 30 by Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the country’s current head of state.

The military’s seizure of power came on both occasions after discontent between the population and the army over jihadist attacks, which are keeping more than 1.8 million people displaced, according to the government.

With information from agencies

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