Ouagadougou, 13/02/2023 (MAP) – At least nineteen civilians, including nine army auxiliaries, were killed in two attacks on Thursday and Sunday in northwestern and eastern Burkina Faso, local and security sources said.
On Sunday, at about 4 p.m. (UTC), « a group of terrorists attacked the people of Yargatenga. At least ten men were murdered in a cowardly way, » said a resident of the town, located in eastern Burkina Faso on the border with Togo and Ghana.
The Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP) « tried to resist this attack, but two of them fell to their deaths, » he continued. The attack was confirmed by a local official, who put the death toll at « 13 » and « a lot of material damage, » without giving further details.
« This is the third time in a month that Yaragatenga has been attacked, » he said, recalling that « the town’s commissioner was killed in an ambush on February 1.
On Thursday, the town of Dembo, on the other side of Burkina Faso in the northwest, was attacked by armed men, according to local sources.
« On Thursday afternoon, about 100 armed men on pickup trucks and motorcycles entered the village of Dembo and opened fire before confronting the VDP, » one of its officials said Monday.
« We lost seven elements after the clashes that lasted more than three hours. Several enemies were also killed, but their bodies were taken away, » he said.
Burkina Faso has been rocked since 2015 by attacks by groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, and their clashes with the armed forces. The violence has left thousands dead and displaced some two million people.