Ivory Coast jails six for life over 2020 jihadist attack

Six people have been jailed for life over a jihadist attack in 2020 that killed 14 soldiers at a border post in Ivory Coast, a lawyer involved in the case told AFP on Tuesday.

Ivory Coast shares its northern border with Burkina Faso and Mali, which have both been ravaged by Islamist extremist attacks that have spread south towards coastal countries.

Lawyer Abdoulaye Ben Meite said six of the 45 defendants on trial for the attack in Kafolo received life sentences, while 17 were jailed for 20 years and fined 50 million CFA francs ($89,000).

One person was given a five-year sentence and 21 people were acquitted, he added.

Armed men attacked the military post in the northeast village of Kafolo overnight on June 10-11, 2020.

No one claimed responsibility but it was blamed on jihadists operating over the border in Burkina Faso in retaliation for a joint Ivorian and Burkinabe operation against extremists in the region.

Three Ivorian soldiers were also killed in March 2021 in an attack on two army positions near the border with Burkina Faso, including in Kafolo.

Nineteen people were killed in an attack on the seaside town of Grand-Bassam, east of Abidjan, in March 2016.

AFP

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