Some 50 civilians were killed on Wednesday in an attack carried out by suspected jihadists in eastern Burkina Faso, Colonel Hubert Yameogo, governor of the region where the massacre took place, reported on Thursday.
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According to a statement sent by the governor to AFP, “unidentified armed individuals attacked” residents trying to flee the town of Madjoari, where the jihadists imposed a blockade, with a “provisional balance of 50 dead”.
Like other communes in the north and east of Burkina, Madjoari was blocked by the jihadists who attack those regions. Deprived of supplies, its inhabitants have been trying to flee since last week, said several of them contacted by AFP from Ouagadougou.
The “population was intercepted and executed by the terrorists” and “all the victims are men”, assured one of its inhabitants. The governor of the eastern region assured that “actions are being carried out to guarantee security.”
This attack follows others recently registered in Madjoari against soldiers and civilians. On May 19, the military detachment was attacked, leaving 11 soldiers dead and twenty wounded. Five days earlier, an attack against the civilian population caused 17 deaths and seven injuries.
Burkina Faso, particularly the north and east, has been the target of jihadist attacks since 2015 by movements affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, causing more than 2,000 deaths and 1.8 million displaced people.
AFP
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