Combatants from Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist group Ansar Dine sit in a vehicle in Gao in northeastern Mali.

Combatants from Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist group Ansar Dine sit in a vehicle in Gao in northeastern Mali. The growing presence of armed Islamist groups in Burkina Faso is linked to insecurity in neighboring Mali, where northern regions fell to separatist Tuareg and Al-Qaeda-linked armed groups in 2012. 

© 2012 Adama Diarra/Reuters