Ten killed after bus hits mine in Burkina Faso: Governor
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The minibus hit a mine on a route near the town of Bougui on Sunday afternoon, killing 10 passengers, according to local officials.
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People ride bicycles and motorcycles on a street in Burkina Faso. (Reuters)
In eastern Burkina Faso, a bus carrying ten people struck a mine, the provincial governor reported on Monday.
Ten people were killed in the explosion when the minibus hit a mine on a route close to the village of Bougui on Sunday afternoon, as per a statement by Colonel Hubert Yameogo.
The statement added that the minibus hit a mine on a route near the town of Bougui on Sunday afternoon, killing 10 passengers.
A security source said as quoted by AFP that an improvised explosive device caused the deaths of "around 10 civilians," a toll corroborated by local sources in Fada N'Gourma.
"The victims are mainly women and children," said a resident of the town whose cousin died in the explosion.
The incident comes following an explosive device that killed two soldiers on a road in northern Burkina Faso three days ago, according to a security source.
Since 2015, the West African country has been fighting an insurgency headed by militants associated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS, which has killed tens of thousands and displaced about two million people.
It is worth noting that attacks on security forces and civilians have intensified in recent months, most notably in the northern and eastern provinces bordering Mali and Niger, both of which are fighting militants.
Captain Ibrahim Traore, the commander of Burkina Faso's current military junta, has made recapturing militant-held territory a top priority.
Anger over the government's failure to stop militant assaults fueled two military coups in Burkina Faso this year.
The deterioration in the country's security situation has been used to justify the coups. The first, in January, saw a military junta led by Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba overthrow elected President Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
The second, in September, saw Captain Ibrahim Traore come to power as he and his supporters ousted Damiba.
It is noteworthy that the UN warned in October that 4.9 million people, or a fifth of Burkina's population, are in urgent need of aid, citing the fact that many "mothers were compelled to feed their children with leaves and salt."
