In a "major" attack carried out on Monday, a military unit in the village of Dargo was targeted by "armed terrorist groups", leaving "several dozens of deaths on each side", one of the regional security sources said.

The other security source told AFP that jihadists waged a second attack on Monday, on a supply convoy going between the towns of Dori and Gorom-Gorom.

"In that ambush, several soldiers were killed, along with civilians, notably truck drivers transporting supplies," said the source.

A manager in a road haulage company confirmed the convoy attack, and said that "some 20 drivers and their apprentices were killed".

The attack on the military base was on Tuesday claimed by the JNIM, an armed Islamist militant group affiliated with Al-Qaeda that is active also in Mali and Niger. The group indicated it had killed 40 Burkinabe soldiers.

The JNIM has risen to become the most influential jihadist threat in the Sahel region, according to the United Nations.

Burkina Faso has been plagued by attacks by the JNIM and the Islamic State group since 2015.

Wamaps, a group of West African journalists specialising in Sahel security issues, said the attack on the Dargo base was one of the deadliest attacks against Burkina's military "in recent weeks".

In a post on X, the Wamaps group cited local sources as saying that around 50 soldiers were killed.

In the convoy attack, "nearly 200 terrorists" from the Islamic State group in the Sahel were believed to have taken part, the group said, adding that "some 15 escort soldiers were killed and more than 10 drivers executed".

bur/rmb/gv

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