Burkina Faso: At least 19 killed in two separate attacks by jihadist groups

At least 19 people, including nine volunteers, have been killed in two separate attacks in jihadist-torn Burkina Faso, local officials and security sources on Monday claimed.

A senior militia official told AFP that seven members of the VDP volunteers force were killed in a mass attack on Thursday in the northwestern village of Dembo.

The official said that the attack in Dembo was carried out by around 100 armed men, who surged into the village in pickups on bikes and opened firing.

"We lost seven members in the fighting, which lasted more than three hours. Several attackers were also killed but their bodies were taken away" by the assailants.”

A local in the area told AFP, "residents have been packing their bags since the weekend," saying that the terrorists had arrived in Dembo several times since the beginning of the year but till now no one has been killed.

A local source said that on Sunday a terrorist group killed 12 people, including two VDPvolunteers, at Yargatenga, a village near the eastern border with Togo and Ghana.

An official said, “this is the third time that Yargatenga has been targeted in a month,” adding that the town’s commissioner had been killed in the attack that occurred on February 01.

The attacks in Burkina have brought the death toll from armed insurgents to around 60 for last week alone, up from 50 the week before.

Thousands have been killed, with over two million people fleeing their homes and almost 40 per cent of the country lies outside the government’s control.

(with inputs from agencies)

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