BFF-01 ‘Jihadist attack’ kills nearly 20 civilians in Burkina Faso

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‘Jihadist attack’ kills nearly 20 civilians in Burkina Faso

OUAGADOUGOU, Feb 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Suspected jihadists killed nearly 20
civilians in an attack overnight on the northern Burkina Faso village of
Lamdamol, Seno province, security sources said Sunday.

“The attackers, heavily armed and on motorbikes, literally executed the
local inhabitants,” the security source told AFP. The attackers left nearly
20 dead, the source added.

A local health official, speaking from the town of Dori in the north, said
the village’s chief nurse was among the victims.

“There is panic in the village and the surrounding area,” the official
added, saying local people were fleeing towards the centre-north of the
country.

Another security source said that the attack had come as a reprisal after
jihadists had told local people to leave the area a few days earlier.

The security forces worked day and night to make the zone safe, “but it is
difficult to be everywhere at once”, said the source.

This massacre comes a week after several similar attacks in the north of
the country.

On January 25, 39 civilians were killed in the village of Silgadji, in the
neighbouring province of Soum.

Burkina Faso borders Mali to the northwest and Niger to the east, both
countries that are struggling to contain a wave of lethal jihadist attacks.

Burkina’s security forces, under-equipped and poorly trained, have not been
able to counter the deadly raids in their territory, despite the help of
foreign soldiers, notably French troops.

According to UN figures, the jihadist attacks in Mali, Niger and Burkina
Faso killed 4,000 people in 2019 and caused an unprecedented humanitarian
crisis, having forced 600,000 to flee their homes.

BSS/AFP/MSY/0832 hrs