OUAGADOUGOU, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Thirteen soldiers were killed as a military unit engaged in a security operation was ambushed by unidentified gunmen near Natiaboani in the Eastern region of Burkina Faso Sunday, said the country's armed forces in a statement Monday.
The unit managed to extricate itself from the ambush by neutralizing several of the attackers. In addition to the 13 deaths, eight other soldiers were injured during the fighting, according to the statement.
Security in Burkina Faso has worsened since 2015, with terrorist attacks killing more than 1,000 people and displacing over 1 million others in the West African nation.
Last week, 13 armed police force officers were killed in another ambush in the Centre-Nord Region of the country. ■