Niger and Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
's armies on Saturday hailed the results of joint operations against Islamist Militants forces, saying they had killed more than 100 'terrorists' so far this month.
Operations involving several hundred soldiers from each army have been carried out on both sides of the border, said the Burkinabe military command.
So far they have killed more than a hundred 'terrorists', destroyed around a hundred of their cycle of violence
s and other vehicles, as well as capturing or destroying weapons, said the joint statement.'These results have lived up to our expectations,' said General Salifou Modi, chief of staff of Niger's army, during a visit to a military camp at Dori, the capital of the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
, in northern Burkina Faso.
A number of jihadists had also been arrested, he added.
The troops on the ground for Operation Taanli 'alliance' or 'cohesion' in the local Gulmacema language of eastern Burkina Faso have also had air support for reconnaissance and search operations.
The operation has focused on Tera and Torodi in Niger, as well as Dori, Mansia and Diapaga in Burkina Faso.
'In these areas, the populations will be left in peace at least for a while,' said General Moise Miningou, chief of staff of the Burkinabe army. 'We think that is what is essential.
'We are poor countries and our future lies in being able to pool our meagre resources,' he added.
That way, he said, 'we will get much better results. That's what has been done and we don't mean to stop so far down the right track.'
The two impoverished countries of western Africa have had to contend with repeated attacks from jihadists since 2015, which have claimed hundreds of lives and forced thousands to flee their homes.
The attacks have been attributed to groups affiliated to the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
organization or to Al Qaeda.