Burkina Faso attack kills 60 civilians

OUAGADOUGOU — About 60 civilians were killed in a village in northern Burkina Faso by men wearing military uniforms, a local prosecutor said on Sunday, announcing an investigation into the latest bloodshed in the West African country.

Attacks blamed on suspected extremists are on the rise in Burkina Faso, which is battling an insurgency that spilled over from neighboring Mali, Agence France-Presse reported.

"About 60 people were killed by people wearing the uniforms of our national armed forces," said Ouahigouya High Court prosecutor Lamine Kabore in a statement, citing the gendarmerie.

The attack took place on Thursday in the village of Karma, which is in northern Yatenga Province near the Malian border.

The village is near the Malian border and attracts many illegal gold miners.

Following the attack, Burkina Faso's authorities declared a general mobilization to give the state "all necessary means" to combat a string of bloody attacks blamed on extremists affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State terror group.

"The wounded have been evacuated and are currently being taken care of within our health facilities," he said, adding that the perpetrators had "taken various goods".

He said a probe had been launched after the attack in an area overrun by extremist groups that have carried out repeated attacks for years.

Survivors said more than 100 people on motorbikes and pickup trucks raided the village.

Dozens of men and young people were killed by those dressed in military uniforms, they added.

Unrest in the region began in 2012 and the violence has since wreaked havoc in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, killing thousands and displacing over 2.5 million people.

Recruitment plan

The government had already announced a plan to recruit 5,000 more soldiers to battle the insurgency that has gripped the country since 2015.

Unidentified assailants killed 40 people and wounded 33 others in an attack on the army and volunteer forces in northern Burkina Faso near Ouahigouya on April 15, the government said.

Ibrahim Traore, Burkina Faso's transitional president, has declared a goal of recapturing 40 percent of the country's territory, which is controlled by extremists.

In Mali, an army helicopter crashed in a residential neighborhood of the capital Bamako while returning from an anti-extremist operation on Saturday, the armed forces and sources said.

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the crash occurred in Missabougou district.

The incident followed an ambush earlier that day on an army supply mission in the Sahel country's restive north.

Agencies via Xinhua