OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso
More than a dozen people, thought to be mostly shepherds, have been killed in an attack in eastern Burkina Faso, security and local sources told AFP on Monday.
On Sunday "several dozen
terrorists attacked the outskirts of Kompienga" - the capital of the
province of the same name - and killed "around 15 people," a resident
told AFP.
The attack was confirmed by a
security source and another resident.
The latest attack caps a
bloody week for the impoverished landlocked Sahel state, which is struggling
with a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighboring Mali in 2015.
At least twelve civilians were
killed in an attack by suspected jihadists in an area of western Burkina Faso
bordering Mali on Thursday, a local official and residents told AFP.
Around 20 people were killed
in the series of raids on villages in the country's troubled north, sources
said.
And there were reports Friday that another 20 people had been killed in separate attacks in eastern Burkina Faso.
Last Monday, armed men raided
the village of Kaongo in the southeastern province of Koulpelogo, killing at
least 11 people including two women and children.
Two days later the neighboring
village of Bilguimdoure was targeted, "leaving around 10 dead," a
local official said.
The attackers torched homes
and stores in the two villages and made off with cattle, the official added.
People living in the district
said that local residents were fleeing the area, terrified of further attacks.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has
been facing mounting violence from jihadist organizations, including the Group
to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara
(EIGS).
More than 10,000 civilians,
troops and police have died in the insurgency, according to NGO estimates, while
at least two million people have fled their homes and more than a third of the
country lies outside the government's control.
The six-month extension of the
state of emergency - adopted unanimously on May 12 by the interim parliament -
will now remain in effect through to October 29.
It has been imposed in eight
of the country's 13 regions since the end of March.
It allows security forces to
conduct searches of homes, day or night, and restricts some fundamental
freedoms such as the freedom of movement and assembly.
No comments:
Post a Comment