The death toll is said to be between 12 and 14 dead. Alexander / stock.adobe.com
At least twelve civilians were killed on Thursday in an attack by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso, AFP learned on Monday March 6 from local sources.
Thursday, agroup of terroristsattacked the village of Aorema, located about ten kilometers from Ouahigouya, capital of the North region, residents of the area told AFP.
A place “directly targeted by terrorists”
“The assailants opened fire on a group of young people sitting in a kiosk (informal restaurant, editor’s note). Seven young people died on the spot and three people died in their homes, hit by stray bullets. Two other people, wounded by bullets, later succumbed to their wounds“, explained one of them. According to another resident, the toll stands at “fourteen dead», with several wounded who succumbed to their wounds in the days following the attack.
“It was the kiosk where the young people were gathered that was directly targeted by the terrorists who had already made incursions into the village, ordering the young people of the village to no longer gather there.“, he specified. The attack was confirmed by a security source, assuring that “operations are in progressin the area, without giving a balance sheet. In the aftermath of this attack, a curfew was introduced throughout the northern region of Burkina Faso, bordering Mali and regularly targeted by jihadists.
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This curfew prohibits the movement of vehicles and people between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. until March 31. In addition to the northern region, a curfew has been imposed in several provinces in the center-east, center-north and east for a period ranging from one to three months.
Burkina Faso has experienced an intensification of jihadist violence since the beginning of the year, with several dozen deaths – civilians or soldiers – almost every week. The violence attributed to groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) organization has left more than 10,000 dead – civilians and soldiers – since 2015, according to NGOs, and some two million displaced.
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