About 60 civilians were killed in a village in northern Burkina Faso by men wearing military uniforms, the local prosecutor said late on Sunday, announcing an investigation into the latest bloodshed in the insurgency-hit nation.
Landlocked and in the heart of west Africa’s Sahel, the nation is one of the world’s most volatile and impoverished.
Attacks blamed on suspected militants are on the rise in Burkina Faso, which is battling an insurgency that spilled over from neighboring Mali.
Photo: AP
“About 60 people were killed by people wearing the uniforms of our national armed forces” on Thursday last week in the village of Karma, in northern Yatenga Province, Ouahigouya High Court Prosecutor Lamine Kabore said in a statement, citing the police.
“The wounded have been evacuated and are currently being taken care of within our health facilities,” he said, adding that the perpetrators had “taken various goods.”
The village of Karma is near the Malian border and attracts many illegal gold miners.
Survivors said that more than 100 people on motorbikes and pickup trucks raided the village.
Dozens of men and young people were killed by the men, dressed in military uniforms, they said.
Survivors gave a toll of “about 80 dead.”
The latest bloodshed occurred a week after 34 defense volunteers and six soldiers were killed in an attack by suspected militants near the village of Aorema, about 15km from provincial capital Ouahigouya and 40km from Karma.
Following that attack, the Burkinabe military junta declared a “general mobilization” to give the state “all necessary means” to combat a string of bloody attacks blamed on militants affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
The decree states that anyone older than 18 years old and physically fit who is not in the armed forces would be “called to enlist according to the needs expressed by the competent authorities.”
The Burkinabe government had already announced a plan to recruit 5,000 more troops to battle the insurgency that has gripped the nation since 2015.
Captain Ibrahim Traore, Burkina Faso’s transitional president, has declared a goal of recapturing 40 percent of the nation’s territory which is controlled by militants.
The violence has left more than 10,000 people dead, according to non-governmental organizations, and displaced 2 million people from their homes.
Anger within the military at the mounting toll sparked two coups in last year, the most recent of which was in September, when Traore seized power.
He is standing by a pledge made by the preceding junta to stage elections for a civilian government by next year.
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