Search Underway to Find 50 Kidnapped Women in Burkina Faso

The governor of the Sahel region said in a statement on Monday that a group of women kidnapped by suspected jihadists on Thursday and Friday in Burkina Faso is being searched.

Lt. Col. Rodolphe Sorgo said, “As soon as their disappearance was reported, a search was conducted to find all of these innocent victims safely and soundly.

“Everything is being done on the ground and in the air to find these women,” a security source told AFP, adding that “airplanes were flying over the area to detect suspicious movements.” There is

About 50 women were kidnapped by suspected Islamic extremists on Thursday and Friday in two neighborhoods north and west of the northern town of Albinda, Sorgo said.

“These wives, mothers and daughters were unjustly attacked by armed men while they were looking for wild fruit,” he added.

“I think the kidnappers took them to another base,” an Albinda resident told AFP on Sunday.

“This is the first mass kidnapping since the security crisis began, and we need to manage this situation well to avoid drama and recurrence,” said a senior officer close to the general staff.

France condemned the kidnapping “in the strongest terms possible” and called for “immediate release”.

In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Paris reaffirmed its “solidarity and commitment to Burkina Faso”.

The commune of Albinda is located in the Sahel region, an area blockaded by jihadist groups and with food supplies difficult.

Nearly one million people now live in the cordoned off areas in the north and east of the country, according to the United Nations.

Burkina Faso, especially its northern half, has seen an increase in attacks by jihadist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and Islamic State since 2015. They have killed thousands and displaced at least two million people from their homes.

Interim President Captain Ibrahim Traoré, emerging from the September 30 military coup (the second in eight months), has set himself the goal of “recapturing the territories occupied by these terrorist hordes.” bottom.