At least 10 men have been killed in a jihadist massacre at a village in Burkina Faso, which is in the grip of a years-long Islamist insurgency, security and local sources told AFP on Tuesday.
"We are talking of between 10 and 30 dead" in in the assault, which targeted the village of Silgadji in northern Soum province, said a security official. The attack was launched on Saturday and jihadists were still in the area on Monday, a resident in nearby Bourzanga town told AFP by phone, citing accounts from those who had fled.
"The terrorists surrounded the people at the village market, before separating them into two groups. The men were executed and the women were ordered to leave the village," the source said. The security source said: "Security teams are trying to get to the site but access to the village has probably been booby-trapped with homemade mines, and they are having to proceed carefully."
Hundreds killed
Jihadist groups have killed almost 800 people in Burkina Faso and displaced 600,000 more since the start of 2015, when extremist violence began to spread from neighbouring Mali. The attack comes on the heels of a massacre of 36 people at two villages in northern Sanmatenga province on January 20, prompting President Roch Marc Christian Kabore to declare two days of national mourning.
Located in the heart of the vast Sahel region on the southern fringe of the Sahara, Burkina Faso is one of the most impoverished countries in the world. Its army is ill-equipped and poorly trained to deal with the threat although in recent months commanders claim to have killed roughly 100 jihadists.
The assaults typically entail fast-moving jihadists who arrive on motorbikes, attacking the market place. There are 4,500 French troops deployed in the region, which are now backed by armed drones, as well as a 13,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in Mali. They support the forces of the "G5 Sahel" anti-terror group -- Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
The day after the attacks in Sanmatenga, the Burkina parliament adopted unanimously a law allowing for the recruitment of local volunteers in the fight against jihadists. Volunteers aged over 18 will be given 14 days military training, after which they will be given small arms and other communication equipment.
The recruits would be expected to conduct surveillance and provide information and protection for their communities in the event of an attack while waiting for security forces to deploy, according to Defence Minister Cheriff Sy. According to UN figures, jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger last year claimed around 4,000 lives. Hundreds of thousands have fled their homes, sparking a humanitarian crisis.