In response to two armed incidents that took place near its Mana and Boungou mines in Burkina Faso last week, Quebec miner SEMAFO said it increased its security measures for transporting employees to and from both mines.

While operations at both mines were unaffected by the attacks, several employees and sub-contractors lost their lives.

Five gendarmes and one sub-contractor employee were killed in the first attack on August 11, which took place en route to the Boungou mine in Burkina Faso’s Est region.

The second occurred only six days later, on August 17, when an employee bus was held up by bandits while heading to the Mana mine from the town of Bobo-Dioulasso. One of the company’s national employees and one sub-contractor were killed.

The two incidents do not appear to be connected, according to the company’s early analysis.

Burkina Faso, Africa’s fourth largest producer of gold, has seen a steady increase of terrorist activity over the past two years, prompting several countries, including Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom to issue travel advisory warnings recommending that citizens only travel there for essential business and avoid specific regions entirely.

Related: Six strategies for cutting political risk in mining projects

According to Marco Simonetti, West Africa regional manager at International Alert, an independent peacebuilding organization, increased terrorism in the country comes from ongoing conflict in Mali.

“Violent extremism exploits chaos and instability, and of course the chaos that was created in Mali has brought that country to open conflict, and the conflict spills over into Burkina, Niger, and other countries in the region,” said Simonetti. “So it’s very much a function of the conflict in Mali, the way we observe it.”

However, Simonetti said he does not believe SEMAFO or its employees were the intended target of the incidents.

“The first [thought] that came to my mind was it was probably not the mining company, it was the gendarmes,” Simonetti said of the incident at Boungou. “Because the targets of these people is the state.”

“Looking at the dynamics, it’s probably an incident that happened just because these people were at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Simonetti said.

SEMAFO has resumed transporting employees and supplies to Boungou. To help ensure their safety, a ground military force has been deployed along the route between the mine and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital. The employees will also be given a greater escort presence.

Burkinabé employees headed to the Mana mine will also be provided with a larger escort, and any expatriate employees will be brought to the mines by helicopter transport, the company said.

SEMAFO’s senior management, including CEO Benoit Desormeaux, have arrived in Burkina Faso to oversee the improvements.

Both the Boungou and Mana mines are continuing to operate as normal.

Updated on Aug. 27 with comment from International Alert.