Ouagadougou: About 60 civilians were killed in northern Burkina Faso on Friday by people wearing the uniform of the Burkinabe armed forces, local prosecutor Lamine Kabore said on Sunday, citing information from police in the town of Ohagoya.
He said the investigation was launched after the attack on Karma village in Yetenga province in the border region near Mali, an area held by militant groups linked to al-Qaida and Daesh, who have carried out repeated attacks for years.
The statement did not provide further details of the attack.
Human Rights Watch said in March that since 2022, attacks by armed groups on civilians have increased while state security forces and volunteer defense forces have carried out numerous counter-terrorism operations.
According to the government, on April 15, unknown assailants attacked army and volunteer forces near Ouahigouya in the same area in northern Burkina Faso, killing 40 people and wounding 33 others.
Unrest in the region began in Mali in 2012 when armed men hijacked a Tuareg separatist rebellion. Violence has since spread to Burkina Faso and Niger, killing thousands and displacing more than 2.5 million people.
