&w=3840&q=100)
Al Qaeda affiliate claims killing 200 soldiers in Burkina Faso base attack
Satellite footage from the day of the attack shows burn marks and smoke over the military base, burn marks on a nearby prison and plumes of smoke above a hospital and market read more
Militants gather in Djibo, Burkina Faso, where a military base was attacked, in this still image obtained from social media video released May 12, 2025. Reuters
A West African al Qaeda affiliate said it killed 200 soldiers in an attack on an army base in Burkina Faso this week, according to a group that tracks the online activity of Islamist militants.
Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) made the latest declaration via a formal statement, U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group said on Thursday, a day after it said JNIM had claimed to have killed 60 soldiers in a different attack in the northern Loroum province.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Reuters could not immediately verify the statements. Burkina Faso's government did not respond to a request for comment.
The base in the northern town of Djibo came under attack on Sunday morning, with hundreds of fighters overrunning and destroying it, security sources told Reuters at the time. A police station and market were also targeted, they said.
Satellite footage from the day of the attack shared with Reuters shows burn marks and smoke over the military base, burn marks on a nearby prison and plumes of smoke above a hospital and market.
Although there was no official toll or government statement on the attack, three Djibo residents told Reuters that dozens of soldiers and civilians were killed. JNIM has since blocked road access to the Djibo base.
SITE previously said Ousmane Dicko, head of JNIM in Burkina Faso, had appeared in a video urging residents of Djibo to leave the town for their own safety.
Analysts say JNIM has been ramping up attacks in Burkina Faso, where a military junta that seized power in 2022 promising security has increasingly struggled to turn the tide against Islamist insurgents.
JNIM claimed multiple attacks in Burkina Faso on May 11 alone as junta leader Ibrahim Traore was visiting Russia, where he met with President Vladimir Putin.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Conflict Armament Research, a group that tracks illicit arms flows, told Reuters that Islamist groups in West Africa's Sahel region have been targeting military positions to reinforce their arsenals.
'The strategy Salafi jihadist groups have implemented in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger of diverting weapons from state custody to strengthen their military and propaganda objectives, continues to prove highly effective,' the group said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
an hour ago
- First Post
Lee Jae-myung, Trump talk tariffs, alliance in first call since South Korea election
During the phone call with Trump, Lee 'emphasised the importance of the South Korea-US alliance as the foundation of the country's diplomacy' read more South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung takes his oath during his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on June 4. Reuters South Korea's new leader, Lee Jae-myung, and Donald Trump agreed in a phone call to work towards a tariff agreement, Seoul said on Friday, as a deadline for avoiding harsh US tariffs approaches. Lee scored a landslide win in South Korea's election this week, ending months of political upheaval in Asia's fourth-largest economy. The United States imposed a 25% duty on Seoul in April as part of Trump's broad global tariffs, before putting the country-specific prices on hold for 90 days. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'The two presidents agreed to make an effort to reach a satisfactory agreement on tariff consultations as soon as possible that both countries can be satisfied with,' Lee's office said in a statement. 'To this end, they decided to encourage working-level negotiations to yield tangible results.' During the phone call with Trump, Lee 'emphasised the importance of the South Korea-US alliance as the foundation of the country's diplomacy'. 'They praised each other's leadership and affirmed their commitment to strengthening the alliance through close cooperation,' Lee's office said. Trump invited Lee to a summit in the U.S. and they plan to meet soon, according to a White House official. The two leaders also shared stories from the campaign trail, including of assassination attempts and political difficulties, and agreed that strong leadership emerges as they overcome difficulties, Lee's office said. Lee survived a knife attack and underwent surgery when he was stabbed in the neck by a man during an event last year. Trump and Lee also talked of their golf skills and agreed to play golf when possible, Lee's office said, while Lee mentioned that he was gifted a hat with Trump's signature on it. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD South Korea's central bank last month almost halved its annual growth forecast to 0.8 percent, down from the 1.5 percent projected in February. The new leadership in Seoul will also have to contend with Trump's decision to this week double tariffs on aluminium and steel imports to 50 percent. Washington is Seoul's long-time security ally and has around 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea. The allies signed a new five-year agreement last year on sharing the cost of stationing US troops in South Korea, with Seoul agreeing to raise its contribution by 8.3 percent to 1.52 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for 2026. Before returning to the White House in January, Trump said that Seoul would pay billions more annually if he won the presidential election.
The Hindu
2 hours ago
- The Hindu
Fading memories of freedom
As distance grows from their freedom movements, both India and Bangladesh are reshaping what it means to be anti-colonial The current regime in Bangladesh wants to disconnect the country from its history of freedom struggle against Pakistan. It has removed the portrait of its founding President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from currency notes. It is also seeking new friendship with Pakistan. The people of Bangladesh fought two freedom struggles in the 20th century: the first to liberate themselves from the British, and then from Pakistan. It is a place that won freedom twice within 24 years: in 1947 and 1971. The ideas of the self and oppressor change periodically. Bangladesh, now 55 years away from its second freedom struggle, thinks Islam is a more powerful bond for the people than language, which had separated it from what was then West Pakistan. Correspondingly, the iconography of the nation is being altered. India's collective memory of the freedom struggle is also undergoing a transformation. The most powerful political force of India today, Hindutva, sees independence won in 1947 only as a partial victory. Its more expansive version of anti-colonialism sees Islam and western modernity as vestiges of foreign influence on the nation. It is trying to scrape those influences from public consciousness through various interventions. This new decolonisation drive is directed inward: amending curricula, laws, administrative structures, and more. The euphoria of a newly crossed milestone for a nation lasts for a finite time and its lingering sweetness fades with the passage of generations. The new wave of Islamic radicalism in Bangladesh poses new security threats for India. The Sheikh Hasina government in Dhaka was sensitive to India's security concerns, and that was one of the reasons for the Islamist hostility towards her. Uttar Pradesh and Maine: sister States? What is common between Maine and Uttar Pradesh, States in the United States and India, respectively. Nothing really, you might think, but these States have recently barred or disqualified lawmakers from legislatures for what has been determined as unacceptable speech. Free speech and hate speech remain a vexed tangle in liberal politics world over. Maine Representative Laurel Libby has been barred from voting in the House. The Republican had posted a photo of a transgender student who won a girls' pole vault competition after finishing fifth in the boys' category two years earlier. She stands by her position and is seeking judicial intervention to restore her voting right. In UP, Abbas Ansari, an MLA of a party that is allied to the ruling BJP, has been expelled from the Legislative Assembly after he was convicted in a hate speech case from 2022. He had allegedly threatened the local administration during the Uttar Pradesh election. Simulating war and diplomacy Speaking of speech, there is a new status in fabricating information, which is honourably mentioned as 'narrative building,' in strategic commentaries these days. In love and war, all is fair, including lies. Misinformation has acquired such a halo of virtue. For all the frothing at the mouth about democracy being threatened by post-truth politics until recently, these days, strategists around the world are talking about the imperative of winning the 'narrative war' and poisoning the enemy's information pipelines! War itself is akin to a simulated computer game, as Ukraine's recent attack on Russian targets showed. It is only appropriate that there is also a voiceover of a suitable story to go with it. Many philosophers and thinkers have wondered whether we are living in a simulation. In the emerging landscape of virtual reality and AI, these questions are resurfacing. There are physicists who argue that a table made of wood and a table in VR are both equally real, or equally simulated. If we are already living in a simulated universe, we are creating a simulation within a simulation, as strategy! If what is perceived matters more, the reality as we thought of it until now, will cease to be relevant.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Indian Express
Trump vs Musk feud sparks mockery in Moscow: ‘Don't fight, guys!' say Russian officials
The ongoing public spat between US President Donald Trump and tech-billionaire Elon Musk has found unlikely spectators in Moscow, where top officials, tycoons, and media personalities gleefully weighed in with offers of peace talks, business deals—and sarcasm. 'Elon, don't be upset!' posted nationalist senator Dmitry Rogozin, formerly head of Russia's space programme. 'If you encounter insurmountable problems in the US, come to us. Here you will find reliable comrades and complete freedom of technical creativity,' he added on Musk's own platform, X. Elon @elonmusk , don't be upset! You are respected in Russia. If you encounter insurmountable problems in the US, come to us and become one of us – a 'Bars-Sarmat' fighter. Here you will find reliable comrades and complete freedom of technical creativity. — ROGOZIN (@Rogozin) June 6, 2025 Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also joined the online fray, quipping: 'We are ready to facilitate the conclusion of a peace deal between D and E for a reasonable fee and to accept Starlink shares as payment. Don't fight, guys!' The clash between the US president and the world's richest man quickly became low-hanging fruit for Russia's political elite, many of whom have made a habit of mocking perceived chaos in Washington. Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT and one of Russia's most powerful media figures, jabbed at the row as a symbol of 'modern US. political culture' — calling it 'Sort of like the English Industrial Revolution. Only in reverse.' Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund and a former advocate for US-Russia cooperation in space, lamented: 'Why can't we all just get along?' He later asked X's AI chatbot, Grok, how the pair might reconcile. @grok what needs to happen for @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk to reconcile — Kirill A. Dmitriev (@kadmitriev) June 5, 2025 Even the Kremlin chimed in—carefully. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov diplomatically called it an 'internal matter' for the US but expressed faith in Trump's ability to multitask. 'Presidents handle a huge number of different things at the same time, some more and some less important,' he said, Reuters reported. Others, like hardline nationalist businessman Konstantin Malofeyev, viewed the feud as a strategic opening: 'We can just be glad that they won't have time for us… the best time to strike back [against Ukraine].'
