Thread by @MENASTREAM

#BurkinaFaso: #JNIM has unofficially claimed through audio and photographs yesterday’s ambush against a Burkinabe joint force convoy accompanied by a team of three foreign nationals, all experienced professionals on an anti-poaching mission (or reportage)..

#BurkinaFaso: Including two Spanish journalists, one was a journalist and film director, a cameraman, and an Irish Zambia-born ranger, co-founder and president of Chengeta Wildlife, a conservationist NGO.

#BurkinaFaso: Four convoy members were wounded, the three foreigners mentioned above were killed, and a Burkinabe force member went missing.

#BurkinaFaso: The attack took place approximately 15km south of Natiaboani, near the hamlets of PK60 and Kpengagboanga, close to an aquatic area not far from National Road 18 (Fada-N’Gourma-Pama transit route).

#BurkinaFaso: In the claim (aligning with local reporting), the group says it seized two pickup trucks with two PK (could be 12.7mm HMGs), a 3rd PK, one AK, and 12 motorcycles. The photographs show 11 Apsonic Aloba motorbikes, one small foldable quadcopter, cameras, and phones.

#BurkinaFaso: For some background, this area was previously a shared space by #JNIM and #ISGS. #JNIM has claimed a series of attacks in the southern direction near Kabonga, Kompienbiga, and Madjoari between late 2018 and early 2020, ever since working in relative silence.

#BurkinaFaso: ISGS claimed to have carried out forced evictions of the populations in 4 villages around Natiaboani in November 2019. The events concerned the villages and hamlets of Nagare, PK52/PK60, Nakiembouri, Pendima, Kounkounfouanou.

#BurkinaFaso: Villages by #ISGS described as "fighting Islam" and being under the control of pro-government militias i.e. Koglweogo and volunteer fighters (VDP).

#BurkinaFaso: In the wake of the ambush, the Burkinabes deployed surveillance aircraft and special forces. One could speculate whether the foreigners were killed during the gunfight or abducted and subsequently executed amid military pressure.

#BurkinaFaso: There are precedents, January 2019 kidnapping and murder of Canadian geologist Kirk Woodman. The incident also took place in a space previously shared between ISGS and JNIM but claimed by the former; and the August 2020 #ISGS murders in the Kouré wildlife reserve.

#BurkinaFaso: In the context of the attack, the militarization of natural reserves amid ongoing conflict is an unavoidable aspect to take into consideration.

#BurkinaFaso: African Parks Network (APN) has evolved into Benin’s de facto anti-terrorist force and provides military capabilities and intervenes directly against militant groups, in addition to other conservationist NGOs increasingly implicated in similar activities.

#BurkinaFaso: In recent months, there have been at least two incidents involving rangers in Burkina Faso and Benin, interventions probably targeting JNIM, the first at the Triple Point (Burkinabe side). The rangers presumably wounded one suspected JNIM fighter.

#BurkinaFaso: In the Pendjari (Beninese side), Beninese rangers killed three suspected JNIM fighters and seriously injured another.