OUAGADOUGOU,
Burkina Faso
Civilians are among the dozens of people killed in an attack by militants in Burkina Faso, local and security sources told correspondent on Sunday.
Jihadist rebels affiliated
with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have waged a grinding insurgency
since 2015 in Burkina Faso that has killed thousands and displaced two million
people.
The latest attack was carried
out by armed men in the village of Barsalogho in north-central Burkina Faso on
Saturday, multiple sources said.
Denouncing the “cowardly and
barbaric attack”, Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo said
it was carried out by “hordes of criminals”.
The assailants targeted
“women, children, elderly, men, making no distinction”, Ouedraogo said on
national television.
A local resident said by
phone that the assault happened around 9:00 am on Saturday, when “terrorist
groups attacked the village, killing numerous civilians and security
personnel”.
A security source who asked
not to be named said there were “several dozen dead” including civilians and
security forces.
Most of the “numerous wounded”
were taken to a hospital in the regional capital of Kaya, some 45 kilometres
(28 miles) away, the source added.
No one has yet claimed
responsibility for the attack.
According to another local
resident, the victims were mainly “young civilians, who came out in large
numbers to help the soldiers dig trenches around the town, to protect
themselves from possible attacks by armed terrorist groups”.
A second security source said
that “the response of the soldiers” and auxiliary troops “made it possible to
neutralise several terrorists and avoid a greater tragedy”.
According to a hospital source
in Kaya, more than 100 wounded people were taken to the city’s largest medical
centre.
The chief of the centre called
on all personnel to come in to deal with the “emergency linked to a massive
influx of patients since the morning of (Saturday) August 24”, according to an
internal note seen the reporter.
Security Minister Mahamadou
Sana said civilians were killed in the attack, despite “a response and air
support”.
Soldiers and members of a
civilian force that supports the military — Volunteers for the Defence of the
Fatherland (VDP) — were also killed according to Sana.
After taking power in a putsch
in September 2022, Burkina’s coup leaders expelled troops and diplomats from
former colonial ruler France, and have turned to Russia for military
assistance.
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