According to a government statement issued on Sunday, an attack on the army and volunteer defense forces in northern Burkina Faso resulted in the deaths of 40 people and the injury of 33 others.
Attacks by Islamist groups with connections to al Qaeda and the Islamic State have plagued the North Region for years, and one such event happened on Saturday in the hamlet of Aorema near the town of Ouahigouya, not far from the Mali border.
It is unknown who was responsible for the attack. Nine days ago, gunmen massacred 44 people in the villages of Kourakou and Tondobi in this West African country’s north.
On Saturday, 36 individuals were killed, including six servicemen and 34 members of a volunteer defense organization. The government has asked locals to join local defense groups in an effort to halt the eight years of carnage that has cost thousands of lives and forced millions to flee their homes.
Burkina Faso’s military launched two coups in the past year in reaction to the country’s instability, but they were unable to put a stop to the carnage.
Islamists took control of a Tuareg separatist insurgency in Mali in 2012, causing chaos across the area. Since then, the violence has spread to Burkina Faso and Niger, and it now threatens to destabilize countries even farther away from the coast.
