Six people, including a pregnant woman and a young girl, were killed in northern Burkina Faso when the ambulance they were traveling in struck a highway bomb, authorities said Wednesday.
“An ambulance from the Djibo health district hit a mine on the road between Gaskinde and Namissiguia in the Sahel region,” government spokesman Ousseni Tamboura said in a statement after the Tuesday incident.
“This cowardly and barbarous incident occurred when the ambulance was transporting people to Ouagadougou,” he said of the attack.
The six who died were a pregnant woman, her husband, two women accompanying her, a young girl, and the ambulance driver.
The vehicle was “completely ripped apart,” the source said.
Burkina Faso — like neighboring Mali and Niger — suffers from jihadist attacks, especially in its north and east.
More than 1,200 people have been killed and roughly one million have fled the violence since 2015.
Two women were killed on February 22 when their cart ran over an improvised bomb in Yagha province, also in the north.
Almost 200 people have been killed in attacks with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) since their use began increasing in 2018, according to an AFP tally. The bombs are often combined with ambushes.
