Burkina Faso: 11 police killed in ambush

Al-Jazeera reported on 22 June 2021 that 11 police officers were killed and four others were reported missing in an ambush by militants. The attack took place in the northern town of Yirgou, which has experienced many attacks in the past. Since 2015, attacks by armed groups in Burkina Faso have killed at least 1,400 people. Al-Jazeera cites a June 2021 report by the UN refugee agency, which estimates that 150,000 people have become internally displaced this year alone, 84% being women and children. World Watch Research analyst Yonas Dembele comments: "The government of Burkina Faso has been fighting against increasingly frequent attacks from armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group since 2015. These attacks were initially concentrated in the border-region to Mali in the north, but‚  have since spread eastwards, causing thousands to flee their homes. Although it is often unclear which groups are behind specific attacks, there seems to be a strategy of targeting army and police units to destabilize the security forces who are trying to protect civilians from jihadist incursions." Yonas Dembele adds: "For Christians in Burkina Faso, the situation is far from safe and many of them have been forced to flee their homes. As the Islamic militants continue to proliferate and the security forces fail to contain them, the security situation looks set to continue deteriorating. This will have dire consequences for civilians in general and for Christians in particular."