According to the governor of the Boucle du Mouhoun district, armed gunmen opened fire on vegetable producers in Burkina Faso, killing at least 33 people.
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.
Governor Babo Pierre Bassinga issued a statement saying, “On the evening of Thursday, May 11 at around 5:00 pm (1700 GMT), the village of Youlou in the department of Cheriba, Mouhoun province, suffered from a cowardly and barbaric terrorist attack.”
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 Islamic 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 since the September 30 coup, has set a target of retaking 40% of the nation’s territory from jihadists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
According to nongovernmental organizations, the violence has resulted in the deaths of nearly 10,000 individuals—both civilians and members of the military—and the displacement of 2 million people.
