BY ALJAZEERA
About 60 civilians have been killed in a village in northern Burkina Faso, according to the local prosecutor who announced an investigation into the attack.
Citing information from police in the town of Ouahigouya, prosecutor Lamine Kabore said the attack occurred on Friday in the village of Karma near the border with Mali.
The statement said the perpetrators were wearing the uniforms of the Burkinabe armed forces, but gave no further details on the attack.
“The wounded have been evacuated and are currently being taken care of within our health facilities,” Kabore told the AFP news agency, adding that the perpetrators had “taken various goods”.
Armed groups are thought to control about 40 percent of Burkina Faso in regional unrest that began in Mali in 2012 when hardline groups hijacked a Tuareg separatist uprising. This month, Burkina Faso’s military rulers announced a “general mobilization” to regain territory lost to armed groups linked to al-Qaedans ISIL (ISIS).
In Karma, survivors told AFP more than 100 people on motorbikes and pick-up trucks had raided the village, and that dozens of men and young people were killed by men dressed in military uniforms.
They put the death toll at “around 80”.
Last week,34 defense volunteers and six soldiers were killed in an attack by an “unidentified” group near Aorema village, about 40km from Karma.
Burkina Faso’s military rulers had declared their “general mobilization” to give the state “all necessary means” to combat the armed uprising only days before.
The decree states that anyone over 18 years old and physically fit who is not in the armed forces will be “called to enlist according to the needs expressed by the competent authorities”.