According to local and security sources, AFP was informed on Sunday that terrorists in Burkina Faso had killed close to 200 people in their attack.
Since 2015, jihadist rebels in Burkina Faso have been fighting a bloody insurgency that has resulted in thousands of deaths and two million displaced people. The rebels are associated with both the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.
According to several sources, armed men carried out the most recent attack on Saturday in the village of Barsalogho in north-central Burkina Faso.
The “cowardly and barbaric attack” was denounced by Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo, who claimed that “hordes of criminals” were responsible for it.
The assailants targeted “women, children, elderly, men, making no distinction”, Ouedraogo said on national television.
A local resident told AFP by phone that the assault happened around 9:00 am on Saturday, when “terrorist groups attacked the village, killing numerous civilians and security personnel”.
A security source who asked not to be named said there were “several dozen dead” including civilians and security forces.
Most of the “numerous wounded” were taken to a hospital in the regional capital of Kaya, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) away, the source added.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
According to another local resident, the victims were mainly “young civilians, who came out in large numbers to help the soldiers dig trenches around the town, to protect themselves from possible attacks by armed terrorist groups”.
A second security source said that “the response of the soldiers” and auxiliary troops “made it possible to neutralise several terrorists and avoid a greater tragedy”.
According to a hospital source in Kaya, more than 100 wounded people were taken to the city’s largest medical centre.
The chief of the centre called on all personnel to come in to deal with the “emergency linked to a massive influx of patients since the morning of (Saturday) August 24”, according to an internal note seen by AFP.
Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said civilians were killed in the attack, despite “a response and air support”.
Soldiers and members of a civilian force that supports the military — Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) — were also killed according to Sana.
After taking power in a putsch in September 2022, Burkina’s coup leaders expelled troops and diplomats from former colonial ruler France, and have turned to Russia for military assistance.
