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At least 12 civilians, including nine members of a volunteer force supporting the military, were killed in a suspected terrorist attack on a village in Burkina Faso, local and security sources said Tuesday.
The West African nation, under a military junta since a 2022 coup, has faced repeated deadly attacks by terrorist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State for more than a decade.
A series of assaults targeted the military and the civilian volunteer force, known as the VDP, across different regions on Saturday and Sunday, a security source told AFP.
In one incident, “terrorists” struck the central-eastern village of Dourtenga on Sunday, killing nine VDP members, including their leader, a local official said. A woman was among the three other civilians who died, the official added.
“They caused damage in the village, ransacking several shops and setting others on fire,” a resident said. “The attack and gunfire went on for more than an hour.”
“Calm has returned, but since yesterday (Monday) many people have been fleeing the village, fearing another incursion,” the resident added.
The Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed responsibility last month for several attacks on the army and volunteer force.
More than 130 people were killed over roughly ten days, according to the ACLED conflict monitor.
Despite the growing violence, the military junta says it has retaken nearly three-quarters of the country and resettled over a million people who had fled their homes.
However, regional experts warn that Burkina Faso has not broken the cycle of violence that has claimed tens of thousands of civilian and military lives since 2015, more than half of them in the past three years, ACLED data shows.
