With other soldiers still missing, the death toll could hit 20 dead Burkina Faso has been battling a rising wave of extremist violence over the last four years which began in the north but has since spread to the east OUAGADOUGOU: More than a dozen soldiers died on Monday during a “major attack” by “terrorist armed groups” in northern Burkina Faso, the army said. With other soldiers still missing, the death toll could hit 20 dead, several security sources said. “In the early morning, the military detachment of the Koutougou department in Soum province was the target of an attack,” said a statement from the general staff. “A provisional report states that more than a dozen soldiers were killed, and several were wounded.” The poor Sahel state of Burkina Faso has been battling a rising wave of extremist violence over the last four years which began in the north but has since spread to the east, near the border with Togo and Benin. The heaviest Islamist attack against Burkina’s army to date left 12 soldiers dead at Nassoumbou, also in Soum province, in December 2016. More than 40 extremists aboard pickup trucks and on motorcycles laid assault to a military post close to the Mali border. Overnight Thursday to Friday armed men described as extremists raided a village in the restive north, killing 15 people, plundering and burning shops, a regional governor said. Most attacks in the former French colony are attributed to the Ansarul Islam group, which emerged near the Mali border in December 2016, and to the JNIM (Group to Support Islam and Muslims), which has sworn allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Those groups are believed to be responsible for around 500 deaths since 2015. Burkina’s capital Ouagadougou has been attacked three times.