Ouagadougou | The explosion of an artisanal mine as an ambulance passed on Tuesday in northern Burkina Faso left six people dead, including a pregnant woman and a girl, according to a new government report.
A previous report Tuesday evening from a security source reported four dead, including a pregnant woman, who died in the vehicle “completely blown away by the explosion”.
“An ambulance from the Djibo health district hit a mine between Gaskindé and Namissiguia, in the Sahel region. This cowardly and barbaric incident, which occurred while the ambulance was on a medical evacuation mission in Ouagadougou, left 6 dead, ”said the spokesman of the Burkinabè government, Ousséni Tamboura, in a statement received Wednesday by AFP.
It is about “the patient, her husband, two companions, a girl and the paramedic”, specified the spokesperson, also Minister of Communication, who “strongly condemned this criminal act”.
Like its Sahel neighbors Mali and Niger, Burkina Faso is facing jihadist attacks, particularly in its northern and eastern regions, which have left more than 1,200 dead and a million displaced since 2015.
On February 23, two women were killed in the same circumstances when their cart jumped on an artisanal device in Yagha province, still in the north of the country.
The attacks with improvised explosive devices (IED) which have been on the rise since 2018 have claimed the lives of nearly 200 people – civilians and soldiers -, according to an AFP count. These attacks are often coupled with ambushes.