A weekend assault by jihadist fighters in Burkina Faso has left four members of a government-backed militia dead, deepening security concerns along the Ghana-Burkina border.

The attack, carried out on Saturday, August 23, in the town of Bittou near the Bawku Municipality, was attributed to Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate operating in the Sahel.

According to military sources, the victims—members of the Volunteers for the Protection of the Fatherland (VDP), a civilian militia established to support Burkina Faso’s army—were ambushed while on patrol. Their weapons were seized by the attackers. “A small team of VDP went into the bush and encountered bad guys [jihadists]. Very wrong,” one source said.

This latest assault adds to a troubling series of cross-border attacks. JNIM has previously claimed responsibility for deadly strikes in Mongade near Kulungugu in June and Garanga near Nware in Ghana’s Pusiga District in March, highlighting the group’s growing presence near Ghana’s northern frontier.

Burkinabe security and defence forces have since launched sweep operations along the borders with Ghana and Togo to flush out the militants and stabilise affected communities.

The incident underscores the cross-border dimension of the insurgency and the looming threat of its spillover into Ghana.

Source: TheDotNews