Scores killed in Burkina Faso by attackers ‘in army uniforms’, prosecutor says

Issued on: 24/04/2023 – 07:41

“About 60 people were killed by people wearing the uniforms of our national armed forces” on Thursday in the village of Karma, in northern Yatenga province, Ouahigouya High Court prosecutor Lamine Kabore told AFP in a statement, citing the gendarmerie.

“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”. According to residents contacted by AFP, survivors said more than 100 people on motorbikes and pick-up trucks raided Karma.

Dozens of men and young people were killed by the men, dressed in military uniforms, they said. Survivors gave a toll of “around 80 dead”. The West African country is battling a terrorist insurgency that spilled over from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

The latest bloodshed occurred a week after 34 defence volunteers and six soldiers were killed in an attack by suspected terrorists near the village of Aorema, about 15 kilometres from Ouahigouya. 

Following that attack, Burkina Faso’s military junta declared a “general mobilisation” to give the state “all necessary means” to combat a string of bloody attacks blamed on terrorists affiliated with al Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

The government had already announced a plan to recruit 5,000 more soldiers to battle the insurgency that has gripped one of the world’s poorest countries.

Captain Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina’s transitional president, has declared a goal of recapturing the 40 percent of the country’s territory which is controlled by terrorist groups.

The violence has left more than 10,000 people dead, according to nongovernmental aid groups, and displaced 2 million people from their homes.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)