DAKAR (Reuters) -The Karma industrial gold mine in northern Burkina Faso was attacked during the night and one soldier and one civilian were killed, the mine’s owner said on Thursday.
Three or four soldiers were also wounded in the attack, which took place at around 4:30 a.m. (0430 GMT), said an official who answered the phone at Nere Mining, which owns Karma. The call was cut off before he could provide his name.
He said it was not immediately clear who was responsible. Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State routinely carry out attacks in northern Burkina, including against convoys on their way to the region’s gold mines.
A Burkinabe security source who had spoken to a contact at the Karma mine said about 200 unknown attackers had arrived just before dawn. Two other industry sources said the attack was eventually repelled.
Nere Mining, a Burkina Faso-based consortium, purchased Endeavour Mining’s 90% stake in the Karma mine in March. It produced about 88,000 ounces of gold in 2021.
(Reporting by Aaron Ross and David Lewis; Editing by Estelle Shirbon)
