Burkina Faso says 28 soldiers, civilians killed in rebel attacks

A regional governor and the army both released statements confirming that at least 28 persons, including troops and civilians, have been slain in two attacks by armed gunmen in Burkina Faso.

The army reported on Monday that an attack on a combat unit in Falagountou, in the country’s north, close to its border with Niger, resulted in the deaths of 10 troops, two volunteer fighters, and a civilian.

The bodies of 15 attackers, according to the army, were discovered following the attack.

The bodies of 15 men, all civilians, had been discovered after an attack on Sunday, according to a separate statement made on Monday by Jean Charles dit Yenapono Some, governor of the Cascades area of the country, which is in the south of the nation close to the border with Ivory Coast.

The governor reported that two transport vans carrying eight women and sixteen men had been halted by armed men. He reported the release of the women and one man.

The governor stated in the announcement, “This January 30, the remains of the victims, showing signs of bullet impact, were located near Linguekoro village.”

The most recent killings occur as Burkina Faso and its neighbors in Mali and Niger fight against armed factions affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIL), who have taken over the country’s arid and primarily rural north and executed hundreds of locals while uprooting almost 2 million people. The fighters’ blockades of cities and villages have made the food crisis worse.

At least 10 civilians were reportedly murdered in two strikes on Thursday in the town of Dassa in west-central Burkina Faso, which is located around 140 kilometers (90 miles) from the nation’s capital Ouagadougou.

More than a third of Burkina Faso is currently out of the government’s control, and anger within the army over how the security situation was handled led to two coups last year. This has worsened political instability and strained ties with France, a former colonial power that has been fighting against armed groups in the Sahel region.