Seven-year-old insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives

Two soldiers died and a dozen “terrorists” were killed on Monday during an attack against a military detachment in Burkina Faso’s militant-hit north, the army said.

The landlocked African state is in the grip of a seven-year-old insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives and forced some 1.4 million people to leave their homes.

The army said in a statement that a “complex attack targeted the military detachment of Deou” in the Sahel region on Monday morning, when “attackers tried to infiltrate their security apparatus”.

The statement said that after the attack, there were “two fallen soldiers and a dozen wounded… on the enemy side, a dozen soldiers were neutralised, weapons and motorcycles were recovered”.

Military statements often use the word “neutralised” to indicate those killed.

Although the army statement did not give more details about the attack, the phrase “complex attack” generally refers to the combined use of explosives and weapons.

Reinforcements are on the way to the area, the military said.

Burkina Faso has been facing increasingly frequent and deadly attacks by terrorist groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda or the so-called Daesh (Islamic State), targeting civilians and soldiers since 2015.

Earlier this month at least 35 civilians were killed and 37 wounded when an IED blast struck a convoy carrying supplies between Djibo and Bourzanga in the restive north.

The following day at least nine people, seven civilians and two soldiers, were killed in two separate attacks by suspected militants.

With more than 40 percent of the country outside government control, Burkina’s ruling junta, which seized power in January, has declared the fight against the insurgency a top priority.