Unidentified gunmen have killed four villagers and abducted another in northeastern Ivory Coast, near the border with Burkina Faso, in what is believed to be the country’s first deadly militant-style attack in over three years, the military said on Tuesday.
The attack occurred overnight from Sunday to Monday in Difita, a small village in the Tehini region, just two kilometres from the Burkinabe border — a volatile area long vulnerable to jihadist activity spilling over from the Sahel.
In a statement, General Lassina Doumbia, Chief of Staff of the Ivorian Army, said the assault left four farmers dead, one person missing, and a woman seriously burned, with several huts set ablaze and livestock stolen.
The perpetrators fled before security forces arrived, but air and ground troops have since been deployed to the area, the army said.
A government source told AFP that the attack may have been a revenge strike, targeting individuals suspected of aiding Burkina Faso’s Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) — a controversial civilian militia fighting alongside the Burkinabe army against jihadists.
Formed in 2019, the VDP has been accused of numerous human rights violations, and clashes between its members and militants often occur near the border. Ivory Coast shares a porous 600-kilometre border with Burkina Faso, where Islamist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State operate widely.
Though northern Ivory Coast has remained relatively stable in recent years, the attack represents a concerning escalation.
“We are in an environment where terrorist groups are active, but this kind of attack on civilians, with people burned alive, is new and unusual,” said William Assanvo, a senior researcher with the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
Ivory Coast last suffered major attacks in 2020 and 2021, when soldiers were killed in Kafolo and elsewhere. Its deadliest jihadist attack occurred in March 2016, when 19 people were killed in a resort town near Abidjan.
Defence Minister Tene Birahima Ouattara recently acknowledged growing security concerns but said the situation remains “worrying but under control.”
The government has coupled its military strategy with youth outreach and development programmes in the north to prevent recruitment by extremist groups.
Relations between Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso have grown tense since Captain Ibrahim Traoré seized power in Ouagadougou in 2022. The two countries have exchanged accusations of meddling in each other’s affairs, further complicating border security efforts.
