Some 60 civilians were killed on Friday in northern Burkina Faso by assailants donning military uniforms. This was confirmed by the local prosecutor Lamine Kabore on Sunday, citing data from police in the town of Ouahigouya.
Kabore claimed that an investigation had been opened after the attack on the village of Karma in Yatenga province, which is located in the border region close to Mali and is controlled by Islamist organisations with ties to al Qaeda and the Islamic State and has been the scene of numerous attacks for years, an investigation had been opened.
Since 2022, attacks by armed assailants attack on civilians have surged while state security forces and volunteer defence troops have conducted a number of abusive counter-terrorism operations, Human Rights Watch said in March.
According to the administration, 40 people were killed and 33 others were injured on April 15 in an attack on the army and volunteer forces in the same area of northern Burkina Faso close to Ouahigouya.
In Mali in 2012, insurgents seized control of a Tuareg separatist movement, sparking the start of the region’s unrest. Since then, the violence has extended to Burkina Faso and Niger, killing thousands of people and uprooting more than 2.5 million more.