Unidentified assailants have killed 40 people and wounded 33 others in an attack on the army and volunteer defense forces in northern Burkina Faso, the government said in a statement.
A detachment of six soldiers and 34 civilian volunteers “was the target of an attack by unidentified armed men on Saturday … at about 4 pm,” near Aorema village, the Ouahigouya governorate said in a statement on Sunday.
The region is not far from the border with Mali, an area overrun by fighters linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) who have carried out repeated attacks for years.
The provisional death toll was 34 auxiliaries from the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) and six soldiers, the statement said, adding that 33 more people were wounded and in “stable condition” in the regional capital Ouahigouya’s university hospital.
A security source confirmed the death toll to the AFP news agency and said “several dozen terrorists had been neutralized”, meaning killed, during a “riposte” launched after the attack.
Another security source said the detachment that came under assault was deployed to maintain security at Ouahigouya’s aerodrome.
BY ALJAZEERA