Dozens of people, including civilians, have been killed in a recent militant attack in Burkina Faso.
Jihadist rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have waged a grinding insurgency since 2015 in Burkina Faso that has killed thousands and displaced two million people.
The latest attack was carried out by armed men in the village of Barsalogho in north-central Burkina Faso on Saturday
Denouncing the “cowardly and barbaric attack”, Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo said it was carried out by “hordes of criminals”.
The assailants targeted “women, children, elderly, men, making no distinction”, Ouedraogo said on national television.
Most of the “numerous wounded” were taken to a hospital in the regional capital of Kaya, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) away.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
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.
