Two Spanish journalists and one Irish national who were captured on Monday in Burkina Faso have been killed.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted on Tuesday that “the worst news is confirmed“, following news that the two journalists had been killed following an ambush on an anti-poaching patrol, in which they were embedded. Sanchez described them as David Beriain and Roberto Fraile.
“All the affection for the children and friends of David Beriain and Roberto Fraile, killed in Burkina Faso. And our care to those who, like them, carry out daring and required coming from battle zones on a daily basis,” he tweeted.
Spanish foreign minister Arancha González Laya told reporters earlier on Tuesday that although the news coming out of the people in West Africa was “confusing”, everything performed two bodies located in the area were those of the lost journalists.
They were in the Pama area of the country, making a documentary on poaching in the region.
Irish media published the third victim was Rory Young, co-founder and president of the anti-poaching group of the Chengeta Wildlife.
The organisation later also confirmed that he was dead in a Facebook post, saying he was an “inspirational leader”.
The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, sent his “sincere condolences to Rory Young’s family, and to the families of the two Spanish nationals who also lost their lives in this tragic incident” and “condemns in the strongest feasible terms the actions of those who are responsible for this attack”.
Young was part of a group that on Monday morning was attacked by unknown assailants in the eastern part of Burkina Faso, the Irish foreign ministry confirmed.
According to González Laya, the area is a bad one, where terrorist groups, poachers, bandits and jihadists operate.
The journalists were embedded in a patrol of some 40 Burkinabe anti-poaching troops, which was attacked by armed individuals.
Attacks by jihadist groups including the Islamic State have killed thousands and displaced more than one million people in the country.
“This attack is of significant importance because it shows (the jihadists’)