Representative Image- AP
Ouagadougou: At least 44 people were killed in two attacks in northern Burkina Faso overnight by unidentified armed assailants on Thursday, authorities said.
Burkina Faso has been caught up in a spiral of violence since 2015, attributed to armed jihadist movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. The atrocities and unending violence forced 1.9 million displaced and left thousands dead, according to reports.
The raids occurred in the villages of Kourakou and Tondobi in the Sahel region of the West African country, an area overrun by Islamist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that have carried out repeated attacks for years.
It is not clear which group carried out Thursday’s attacks. Authorities on Saturday blamed “armed terrorist groups”. More than 2 million people are displaced and thousands have been killed by the violence in Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries.
The unrest triggered two coups last year by the military, which has vowed to retake control of the country but has failed to stem the bloodshed.
Unrest in the region began in Mali in 2012 when Islamists hijacked a Tuareg separatist uprising. The violence has since spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger and threatens to destabilise coastal countries further afield.
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