OUAGADOUGOU, July 5, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Suspected jihadists killed at least 34
people in attacks on villages in northern Burkina Faso at the weekend,
officials and sources said Monday.
In the northwest of the country, 22 people, reportedly including children,
were killed late Sunday at Bourasso in Kossi province, said Boucle du Mouhoun
regional governor Babo Pierre Bassinga.
"Armed men moved around the village at around 5:00 pm, firing in the air.
They came back at night and blindly opened fire on people," a security source
said.
In northern Burkina Faso, 12 people died on Saturday in an attack at
Namissiguima in Yatenga province, another security source said, also speaking
on condition of anonymity.
Three of the dead were members of a civilian militia, the Volunteers for the
Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) -- an auxiliary force set up in December 2019
to support the army.
Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world, has been grappling
with a jihadist insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.
The campaign, led mainly by groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
group, has claimed thousands of lives and forced some 1.9 million people to
flee their homes.
More than 40 percent of the country lies outside the control of the
government, according to official figures.
Burkina Faso underwent a coup in January, when disgruntled colonels ousted
elected president Roch Marc Christian Kabore.
The new strongman, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, declared
security to be his top priority but after a relative lull, attacks resumed,
with the loss of hundreds of lives.