A CANADIAN geologist employed at Progress Minerals who had been kidnapped whilst on site in Burkina Faso on January 15 was found dead, said Reuters which cited a spokesman for the West African country’s security ministry.
Kirk Woodman was abducted by a dozen gunmen on a mining site owned by Vancouver-based Progress Minerals in the northeast near the border with Niger, an area that is under growing threat from armed jihadists, said Reuters. “It’s the Canadian that was found last night in the province of Oudalan,” spokesman Jean Paul Badoum said.
The death will fan concerns that the influence of violent groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State has spread uncontested into Burkina from neighbouring Mali and Niger. Attacks by Islamist militants have surged in the West African country in recent months.
A state of emergency in several northern provinces has been in effect since December 31, the newswire said.
Security has deteriorated over the last few years across the remote and arid Sahel region just south of the Sahara Desert. In response, the United States, France and other European powers have sent troops and equipment to help stamp out the threat.
