Last Update: April 08, 2023, 23:52 IST
Sorgho said 31 people had died in Korakou and 13 in Tondobi. (Representative image / shutterstock)
The regional official said an army offensive “knocked out armed terrorist groups” that carried out the killings.
Twenty-four civilians have been killed by “armed terrorist groups” in two villages near the Niger border in northeastern Burkina Faso, a regional governor said on Saturday.
Rodolphe Sorgho, lieutenant-governor of the Sahel region, said the provisional toll of “this despicable and barbaric attack”, which targeted the villages of Kourkou and Tondobi in northeastern Burkina Faso on Thursday night, was “44 civilians killed and others wounded.”
Sorgho said 31 people had died in Korakou and 13 in Tondobi.
The regional official said the army’s offensive had “knocked out armed terrorist groups” that had carried out the killings.
The governor also assured that “actions are underway to stabilize the area”.
The twin attacks took place close to the village of Setenga, where 86 civilians were killed last June in one of the bloodiest attacks of the long-running insurgency.
The poor Sahel country is battling a seven-year-old campaign by jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Burkina Faso’s new military chief vowed on Thursday to launch a “dynamic offensive” against jihadists following a series of rebel attacks since the start of the year.
“The dynamic offensive that has been underway over the past few weeks will be carried forward to force the armed groups to lay down their arms,” Colonel Célestin Ciampor said after a handover ceremony following his appointment last week.
Sorgho on Saturday invited the local population to join the Front for the Defense of the Fatherland (FDS) – a pro-military movement, and enroll in the VDP volunteer militia.
Since the jihadists launched their campaign from neighboring Mali in 2015, more than 10,000 civilians, soldiers and police have been killed and at least two million people displaced, according to one NGO estimate.
Burkina Faso saw two coups last year. The country has suspended the activities of all political parties and civil society organizations since junta leader Ibrahim Traoré came to power in September.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
