| Ouahigouya ambush | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ansarul Islam | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 10 killed | ||||||
| 4 civilians killed | |||||||
The Ouahigouya ambush took place near Ouahigouya, Burkina Faso, between February 7 and 8, 2022. French forces launched an airstrike on Ansar ul Islam militants responsible for the November Inata attack that killed dozens of Burkinabe police officers.
In 2021, Ansar ul Islam, a jihadist militant group active in northern Burkina Faso with ties to the Islamic State, attacked a police outpost in Inata, killing nearly 50 officers and four civilians. The attack, which was the deadliest of the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso at that point, was a key reason for the January 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état. [1] Following the attack, France's Operation Barkhane, which combatted jihadists in Burkina Faso, launched raids against suspected perpetrators of the Inata attack. [2]
The battle began on February 7, when French forces launched airstrikes on Ansarul Islam positions near the town of Ouahigouya. [3] A group of French commandos then attacked an encampment where many jihadists were located, and opened fire on it. [4] In the attack, ten jihadists were killed, and four civilians hiding in the camp were killed in the crossfire. [5] The French government also stated that the ten jihadists killed were involved in carrying out the November Inata attack. [4]
Following the ambush, Burkinabe junta leader Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba visited Ouahigouya on a surprise visit on February 15. [6] Later, on February 20, Damiba announced the expulsion of Barkhane troops from Burkina Faso, stating that they were looking for other partners to combat the insurgency. [7] The Ouahigouya ambush was one of the last French operations of Operation Barkhane in Burkina Faso. [8]
Operation Barkhane was a counterinsurgency operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's Sahel region. and consisted of a roughly 3,000-strong French force, which was permanently headquartered in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad. The operation was led in co-operation with five countries, all of which are former French colonies that span the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. Mali was a part of the operation until August 2022. The countries are collectively referred to as the "G5 Sahel". The operation was named after a crescent-shaped dune type that is common in the Sahara desert.
Ansar ul Islam is a militant Islamist group active in Burkina Faso and in Mali. It was founded by Boureima Dicko, also known as Ibrahim Malam Dicko, and it is the first native Jihadi group in Burkina Faso. The group cooperates closely with Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.
Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin is a militant jihadist organisation in the Maghreb and West Africa formed by the merger of Ansar Dine, the Macina Liberation Front, Al-Mourabitoun and the Saharan branch of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Its leaders swore allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Events in the year 2021 in Mali.
An ongoing war and civil conflict between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels began in August 2015 and has led to the displacement of over 2 million people and the deaths of at least 10,000 civilians and combatants.
Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba is a Burkinabé military officer who served as interim president of Burkina Faso from 31 January 2022 to 30 September 2022, when he was removed in a coup d'état, by his own military colleague Ibrahim Traoré. Damiba had come to power just eight months earlier, on 24 January 2022, when he removed President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré in a coup.
An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.
A coup d'état took place in Burkina Faso on 30 September 2022, removing Interim President Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba over his alleged inability to deal with the country's Islamist insurgency. Damiba had come to power in a coup d'état just eight months earlier. Captain Ibrahim Traoré took over as interim leader.
The siege of Djibo is an ongoing blockade of the city of Djibo in Burkina Faso by several factions of Jihadist Islamist rebels. The siege began in February 2022, and is part of the Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso.
On August 4, 2022, jihadist militants ambushed a counter-terrorism operation organized by the Burkina Faso Armed Forces, killing four civilians and nine VDP militiamen. The Burkinabe government claimed that thirty-four insurgents were killed immediately after the attack.
On January 10, 2019, Ansarul Islam militants killed 20 civilians in Gasseliki, Burkina Faso. The attack came in the wake of a massacre perpetrated by the Koglweogo in Yirgou, in Barsalogho department, just days earlier.
On September 26, 2022, a convoy bound for the besieged city of Djibo in northern Burkina Faso was attacked by armed gunmen, killing 27 soldiers and 10 civilians. The Mali-based jihadist group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Gaskinde attack was a key reason for the September 30 coup in Burkina Faso, as many frontline officers were disgruntled about Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba's handling of the jihadist insurgency.
On October 13, 2022, an IED hit a civilian bus travelling along the Bandiagara-Goundaka highway in rural Mali, killing 10 civilians and injuring dozens more. The attack was alleged to be coordinated by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).
On April 8, 2022, unknown jihadists ambushed a Burkinabe military base near the town of Namissiguima, in Sanmatenga Province, Burkina Faso.
On December 7, 2022, ten Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland militants, a Burkinabe civilian militia, were killed at a market in Boala Department, Centre-Nord Region, Burkina Faso. A second attack on December 10 killed seven civilians.
Between February 18 and 19, 2022, clashes broke out in Archam, Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger, between the Malian Army and unknown jihadists.
On March 20, 2022, unknown jihadists ambushed Burkinabe soldiers in Natiaboani, Gourma Province, Burkina Faso, killing thirteen soldiers and an unknown number of jihadists.
Operation Tiésaba-Bourgou was a joint Franco-Malian operation against Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin and Ansarul Islam near the Malian, Burkinabe, and Nigerien borders.
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