Terrorism in Burkina Faso

The risk of terrorist attacks in Burkina Faso over the past years can be classified as almost insignificant. Compared to other countries here are only quite a few incedents. Over the past 5 years a total number of 41 terrorist incidents has been recorded, in which 93 people have been killed and 82 injured.

In 9 incedents a total of 138 people have been kidnapped or taken as hostage, though a ransom was rarely (1 times) extorted.

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Most frequent attack targets in Burkina Faso

(2013 to 2017)

Target	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Private citizens	17	73	60	136
Police	14	33	35	3
Business	7	58	59	128
Educational institution	6	4	2	2
Government	4	3	0	0
Military	3	0	7	0
Journalists & Media	1	0	1	0
Religious institutions	1	1	0	0

Most affected regions

(2013 to 2017)

Region	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Sahel	26	28	14	9
Centre	5	55	57	127
Nord	3	2	2	0
Oudalan	2	1	3	1
Kadiogo	1	1	0	0
Sanmatenga	1	0	1	0
Kenedougou	1	4	4	1
Boucle du Mouhoun	1	1	0	0

Terrorist organisations in Burkina Faso

Organisation	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Ansar al-Islam	9	9	2	0
Muslim extremists	6	8	0	7
Al-Qaida	4	34	33	128
Boko Haram	1	1	1	0
Islamic State	1	1	2	0

All information sourced from the "National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism" (START) and its Global Terrorism Database. An act of terrorism is concidered every incident which is aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal, but not for pure profit motives. In addition these incidents must not be legitimized by warfare activities, listet in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.