Burkina Faso captures 60 extremists near Mali, Niger border

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso – Burkina Faso’s army says its counterterror forces have captured some 60 extremists along the border with Mali and Niger during operations conducted since July 8.

The military said Thursday its forces also dismantled several extremist bases and seized explosives.

The border with Mali and Niger is home to jihadists who kidnap and kill officials, sometimes in connection with other Islamic extremist groups in West Africa’s vast Sahel region.

Burkina Faso’s security minister on Thursday announced the killing of a village chief and a farmer in Baraboule, one of the volatile communes in Soum province. He says the attackers fled into Mali.