OUAGADOUGOU: Suspected militants have killed 11 people, including three volunteer army auxiliaries, in attacks on two villages in northern Burkina Faso, the Sahel regional governor said Tuesday.
The villages of Tiekaledji and Demniol, in Seno province “came under terrorist attack” on Sunday said Lt. Col. Rodolphe Sorgho in a statement.
“The provisional toll from the attacks unfortunately lists 11 civilians killed, including three from the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP),” he added.
The security forces backed by VDP auxiliaries were combing the area, the statement added.
The army lost five soldiers during clashes on Saturday that it said also left 30 suspected militants dead after a raid on a military base in the north.
And last Thursday, 11 soldiers and 15 gunmen died in another attack, this time in the east of the nation, the army said.
Burkina Faso has been battered by militant raids since 2015, with movements linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group.
More than 2,000 people have been killed and 1.8 million displaced.
Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba overthrew elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore in January, accusing him of being ineffective in the face of militant violence.
The new leader says he has made the security crisis his priority, but after a relative lull in violence, a surge in attacks has claimed more than 200 lives.
Militants kill 11 in northern Burkina Faso
https://arab.news/583fu
Militants kill 11 in northern Burkina Faso
- Villages of Tiekaledji and Demniol, in Seno province ‘came under terrorist attack’ on Sunday
Trump hopes North Carolina speech will bolster standing on US economy
- Trump works to turn around public opinion on economy
- Opinion polls show Americans have doubts
ROCKY MOUNT, North Carolina: US President Donald Trump traveled to the “battleground” state of North Carolina on Friday, seeking to convince Americans that his handling of the economy is sound ahead of a midterm election year that could spell trouble for him and his ruling Republicans. With prices increasing and unemployment up, Trump has his work cut out for him. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday showed just 33 percent of US adults approve of how Trump has handled the economy. Trump is set to argue that the US economy is poised for a surge due to his policies and that any problems they are experiencing are the fault of the Democrats. He contends that he has lowered the price of gasoline, imposed tariffs that are generating billions of dollars for the US Treasury and attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in investment pledges by foreign governments.
Republicans worry, however, that economic woes could jeopardize their chances in elections next November that will decide whether they will keep control of the House of Representatives and the Senate for the remaining two years of Trump’s term. The speech is taking place at a 9 p.m. rally (0200 GMT Saturday) at the convention center in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The city is represented by a Democrat in the House, Don Davis, who faces a tough re-election fight in 2026 after the boundaries of his congressional district were redrawn. North Carolina is considered a “battleground” state because its statewide elections are closely contested between Democrats and Republicans. But Trump won the state in 2016, 2020 and 2024. The North Carolina event is a stop on the way to his oceanfront Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he plans to spend the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
The US president has repeatedly said that any economic pain Americans are experiencing should be blamed on policies he inherited from his predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden.
“Eleven months ago, I inherited a mess, and I’m fixing it,” Trump said in a grievance-filled speech on Wednesday night that he delivered in a jarringly rapid-fire pace. Democrats have argued that Trump himself has bungled the economy, the central issue he campaigned on last year. Trump got some early holiday cheer on Thursday from the Consumer Price Index report for November. It said housing costs rose by the smallest margin in four years. Food costs rose by the least since February. Egg prices — a subject Trump raises regularly — fell for a second month, and by the most in 20 months. The report nonetheless showed that other prices, like beef and electricity, soared. Overall, prices rose 2.7 percent over the year prior. Asked what his message will be in North Carolina, Trump said it would be similar to his last two events, a prime-time address on Wednesday night and a visit to Pennsylvania last week. “We’ve had tremendous success. We inherited a mess, and part of what we inherited was the worst inflation in 48 years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. “And now we’re bringing those prices down. I’ll be talking about that.”
