The Toeni bus bombing occurred when a school bus drove over an improvised explosive device in Toeni, Burkina Faso, killing fourteen people and injuring nine others on January 4, 2020.
Background
Burkina Faso has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency since 2015, with attacks from groups like Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara intensifying since 2017 and 2019 respectively.[1] Throughout the war, landmines have plagued rural areas, and are often placed by jihadists along roads used by the military and civilians.[2]
Bombing
Three buses were carrying 160 passengers, 104 of them students.[3] The bus was carrying students returning from the Christmas season along the Toeni-Tougan highway at the time of the bombing.[4]Stanislas Ouaro stated afterwards that the road was closed, due to the risk of attacks in the region.[3]
The bomb was a homemade IED, and no group claimed responsibility for the attack.[5]
The majority of the dead were children, according to a statement from the Burkinabe government.[6] Fourteen people were killed, including seven children, and nine were injured.[7]