Unfortunately France is no stranger to terrorist attacks, and it just can’t seem to catch a break even on foreign soil. On top of that, it would appear that the French embassy attack wasn’t even the main event, rather a cover up for a more direct statement in the form of the attack on Burkina Faso’s army headquarters. The attack that happened last week appears to be a well orchestrated, top secret plan that was executed very well. One of the things that stands out to me the most is that the location for this meeting of high level officials was changed at the last minute, yet the attackers still knew where to strike. This is pretty concrete evidence that there was definitely someone who had experience and a history with the Burkinabe military. Another red flag I encountered while reading this article was the mention of assailants possibly being members of a “sleeping jihadist cell.” I think this would be even more concerning for the citizens of Burkina Faso because it’s impossible to predict when and where the group will strike next. Furthermore, the presence of terrorist groups in the region is far more spread out than I realized. I had no idea that there were multiple extremist groups operating in the same general vicinity. These groups, however, don’t always strike without reason; they are oftentimes provoked by something and that is true in this case as well. The article states that, “According to a videotaped message released the group, Friday’s dual attacks were in retaliation for the killing of one of its leaders in a recent raid by French troops.” We saw a similar cause and effect situation after 9/11 when in October 2001 we began aerial bombings of Afghanistan targeting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
