Ouagadougou – At least 33 people were killed, after armed gunmen opened fire on vegetable producers in Burkina Faso, according to the governor of the Boucle du Mouhoun district.
Since March, a large portion of the nation—including portions of the western Boucle du Mouhoun region—has been under a state of emergency as the government attempts to stop Islamist assaults.
The village of Youlou in the department of Cheriba, province of Mouhoun, “suffered a cowardly and barbaric terrorist attack” on Thursday, May 11, at 5:00 p.m.(1700 GMT), according to a statement from governor Babo Pierre Bassinga.
According to him, “the gunmen targeted peaceful civilians” who were farming by the river, and the “provisional death toll” stands at 33.
Local sources corroborated the existence of heavily armed, indiscriminately firing motorbike assailants.
On Friday, the victims were laid to rest.
Persons in Cheriba also claimed that three more persons were hurt in the attack and that the culprits had set property on fire before opening fire.
The governor said that local security was being improved.
A jihadist insurgency that began in Mali in 2015 has been waging war in Burkina Faso, which had two military coups in 2022.
Captain Ibrahim Traore, the interim leader of Burkina Faso after the September 30 coup, has set a target of retaking 40% of the nation’s territory from jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh organisation.
According to the NGOs, the violence has resulted in the deaths of over 10,000 individuals—both civilians and members of the military—and the displacement of two million people.
