The Burkina Faso government on Monday announced ten people were killed and several got injured when a passenger bus triggered a landmine in eastern part of the country on Christmas Day, reported The BBC.
Col. Hubert Yameogo said in a statement that the passenger minibus was travelling near the village of Bongui on Sunday afternoon when it hit a landmine.
He said that the injured were immediately taken to a hospital in Fada N’Gourma, while the other passengers disappeared. He added that the authorities were working to restore security to the area and trying to locate the other passengers.
Burkina Faso and its neighbours have been struggling to control jihadist insurgencies since 2013. The insurgents have taken swathes of territory under their control in Burkina Faso. The east and the Sahel regions have been some of the hardest-hit parts of the country. Since 2015, there have been frequent raids and blockades of several towns in the north and eastern regions of the country, in which more than 2,000 people have been killed.
According to UN figures, more than 2.5 million people have fled their homes in the Sahel region over the past decade.
The West African nation is currently under a military rule, having experienced two military coups earlier year, driven by army officers’ anger over the failure of the government to tackle the threat from armed groups.
French troops have been trying to help the region’s armies tackle militants since 2013. In August, France announced the withdrawal of its troops from Mali after a diplomatic fall-out with the country’s military rulers, however, they remain in other Sahel countries.
In related news, Burkina Faso’s military government on Friday ordered senior United Nations (UN) official Barbara Manzi to leave the country immediately, without giving a reason.
Foreign Minister Olivia Rouamba accused the UN official of painting a negative picture of the security situation of Burkina Faso.
