Troops wounded in Senegal's troubled south
DAKAR — Clashes between the army and suspected separatist rebels left two Senegalese soldiers wounded in the restive Casamance region, military sources said on Monday.
"The army's operation to secure the population came under fire from assailants, leaving two wounded in the ranks of the military" on Sunday, a security source told AFP in Ziguinchor, the main city in the Casamance.
The Senegalese army communications department, Dirpa, announced on Sunday that one of its troops had been shot in the hand after several clashes with rebels near the Gambian border.
Dirpa told AFP the rebel Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) had been planning to carry out hijackings but were interrupted by the army who caused "heavy losses", saying many separatists had been injured but without giving a number.
Security forces fear the MFDC is preparing to step up its operations in the coming days as it marks the anniversary of the outbreak of the separatist rebellion in December 1982.
Casamance, which is cut off from northern Senegal by the Gambia, has been caught in a separatist rebellion since 1982, and sporadic outbreaks of violence persist despite a peace accord signed in 2004.
A rich agricultural region with lush forests and white stretches of beach, development has been stunted in the Casamance as a result of the unrest.
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