Uniformed men kill 60 in Burkina Faso

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Uniformed men kill 60 in Burkina Faso

Sixty people were killed in Burkina Faso by men wearing military uniforms, a prosecutor said late Sunday, announcing an investigation into the latest attack in the insurgency-hit country.

“About 60 people were killed by people wearing the uniforms of our national armed forces” on Thursday in the village of Karma, in northern Yatenga province, Ouahigouya High Court prosecutor Lamine Kabore told AFP in a statement, citing the gendarmerie.

“The wounded have been evacuated and are currently being taken care of within our health facilities,” he said, adding that the perpetrators had “taken various goods”.

According to residents contacted by AFP, survivors said more than 100 people on motorbikes and pick-up trucks raided Karma.

Dozens of men and young people were killed by the men, dressed in military uniforms, they said.

Survivors gave a toll of “around 80 dead”.

The west African country is battling a jihadist insurgency that spilled over from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

The latest bloodshed occurred a week after 34 defence volunteers and six soldiers were killed in an attack by suspected jihadists near the village of Aorema, about 15 kilometres (10 miles) from Ouahigouya.

Following that attack, Burkina Faso’s military junta declared a “general mobilisation” to give the state “all necessary means” to combat a string of bloody attacks blamed on jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

The government had already announced a plan to recruit 5,000 more soldiers to battle the insurgency that has gripped one of the world’s poorest countries since 2015.

Captain Ibrahim Traore, Burkina’s transitional president, has declared a goal of recapturing the 40 percent of the country’s territory which is controlled by jihadists.

The violence has left more than 10,000 people dead, according to non-governmental aid groups, and displaced two million people from their homes.