European journalists ‘executed by terrorists’ in Burkina Faso ambush
- Two Spanish and an Irish citizen killed in ambush on anti-poaching patrol near nature reserve
- Burkina Faso, like much of West Africa’s Sahel region, faces a deepening security crisis
Three Europeans – two Spanish and one Irish – were killed in an attack on an anti-poaching patrol in Burkina Faso.
“Three foreign nationals have been killed and a Burkinabe is missing,” government spokesman and communications minister Ousseni Tamboura said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that six people had been injured in the attack in the eastern region of Fada N’Gourma-Pama.
A senior security source in the West African country said the three foreigners – all identified as journalists by the rights group Reporters Without Borders – had been “executed by terrorists”.
He did not specify who was behind Monday’s attack targeting the group, which had included soldiers and forest rangers as well as foreign reporters.
The attackers used two pickup vehicles and a dozen motorbikes, according to security sources.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez confirmed that two Spanish journalists had been killed.