“On the evening of Thursday, May 11, at around 5 p.m., Yolo village in Chiriba district of Mohun region fell victim to a cowardly and brutal terrorist attack,” said Babu Pierre Basinga, the governor of the Loop of Mohun region, said in a statement, according to AFP.
He added: “The armed men targeted peaceful civilians who were cultivating along the river”, noting that “the provisional toll stands at 33 dead”, according to the French agency.
Much of the country, including parts of the western Boucle du Mouhoun region, has been under a state of emergency since March as the government seeks to tackle terrorist attacks.
Local sources confirmed the presence of heavily armed assailants on motorcycles who fired indiscriminately at the farmers whose dead were buried on Friday.
Local residents of Chiriba also reported that 3 other people were injured and that the perpetrators set property on fire before opening fire.
Basinga noted that security has been tightened in the area.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso, which has seen two military coups in 2022, has been experiencing a spiral of jihadist violence that emerged in Mali and Niger years ago and spread beyond their borders.
The violence has killed more than 10,000 people over the past seven years, civilians and soldiers, according to non-governmental organizations, and displaced two million people.
After taking power, Captain Ibrahim Traore set himself the goal of “recovering” about 40% of the territory of Burkina Faso, which is controlled by militant groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
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