Ivory Coast nabs terrorist leader after deadly border post raid

Ivorian authorities on Monday announced the capture of a terrorist leader who led a deadly attack on a military post at Kafolo, on the northeastern border with Burkina Faso on June 11 following a large scale raid.

According to defense minister Hamed Bakayoko, the raid resulted in the arrests of other people directly involved in the attack.

“We traced it back to the commander in Mali, who was arrested. And I can tell you that the head of the commando who led the action was taken yesterday. And with our investigations, we will go further. We will establish who he was in contact with. Who is behind it,” Minister Bakayoko disclosed.

He added that the arrests of people who took part in the assault came thanks to photos retrieved from mobile phones.

The Ivorian military said around 10 soldiers died and six others were wounded in the June 11 attack when dozens of terrorists mounted a pre-dawn attack on the border post.

It was the first by extremists on Ivorian soil since March 2016, when a raid on the southeastern beach resort of Grand-Bassam left 19 people dead.