Kidnapped Polish citizen freed in Burkina Faso - gov

30/6/2022 17:59

        A Polish national taken hostage in Burkina Faso in April was freed last week, the Burkinabe government said on Wednesday.
        
        Rafal Kamil Bednarski was kidnapped in the eastern province of Gourma on April 27 while travelling by bus around the insurgent-hit West African nation, where Islamist militant groups have seized swathes of territory since 2015.
        
        He was released on June 24, the government told a council of ministers late on Wednesday without providing further detail.
        
        A source close to the case told Reuters Bednarski's kidnappers drove him to a military post near the eastern border with Niger in a truck accompanied by a motorbike and dropped him off.
        
        There was no immediate comment from the Polish foreign ministry.
        
        There has been a spate of kidnappings in Burkina Faso this year amid efforts by the ruling military junta to step up the fight against militant groups - some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State - that conduct frequent attacks on the army and civilians.