28 killed in two separate attacks in Burkina Faso

International Desk:  Two separate attacks have occurred in the African country of Burkina Faso. At least 28 people including soldiers and civilians were killed. Armed assailants carried out the attacks on Sunday and Monday, the country's army and a regional governor said in separate statements.

In a statement, the country's military said a military combat unit was attacked in Falangoutou, near the border with Niger in the north of the country, killing 10 soldiers, two volunteer fighters and a civilian.

After the attack, the dead bodies of 15 attackers were found at the scene, the army said.

In a separate statement on Monday, the governor of Burkina Faso's southern Cascades region, Col. J. Charles dit Yenapono Som, said 15 bodies were found after an attack on Sunday, all of them civilians.

The governor said the armed men stopped two passenger vehicles carrying eight women and 16 men. The women and only one man were released, the rest were killed.

In a statement, Governor Som said the bodies of the victims were found near the village of Linguecoro on Monday, with bullet marks on their bodies.

Burkina Faso, a country in the West African Sahel region, and its neighbors Mali and Niger are battling militants linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS). 

Militants have taken over swaths of the country's barren and largely rural north, killing hundreds of villagers. About 20 lakh people of the region have been displaced due to their rampage. Militants have besieged many villages and towns, with food shortages worsening.

 

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