Nusrat al-Islam, officially known as Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin’ (JNIM) released a statement saying they carried out the attack in response to recent killings of their senior commanders in the areas of Tin-Zaouatene and Boughessa.
Previous attacks in the capital and near the porous border with Mali were conducted by allies of al Qaeda in reprisal for Burkina Faso’s participation in a regional fight against Islamist militants
JNIM also recently claimed responsibility for an attack that killed two French soldiers in Mali and an attack against the Swedish contingent of the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
On Saturday, the Burkina Faso premier Paul Kaba Thieba toured the army headquarters and French embassy in the capital Ouagadougou, a day after attacks at those two sites left 16 people dead, including eight gunmen, and wounded 80 more.
Authorities said four gunmen were killed at army headquarters, where the assailants also detonated a car bomb, and four more were killed at the embassy. Two attackers were also captured on Friday.
Local residents were left to wonder how their country remained vulnerable to such attacks after a raid in January 2016 claimed by al Qaeda and another last August by suspected jihadists killed a total of nearly 50 people.
Security was reinforced near strategic sites in Ouagadougou on Saturday.
Government spokesman Remi Dandjinou told Reuters on Saturday that arrests had been made in connection with the attacks but it was unclear if he was referring to new arrests or the two that authorities had reported on Friday.
