At least 33 people were killed when gunmen opened fire on farmers in Burkina Faso, the governor of the Boucle du Mouhoun region said on Saturday.
“The village of Youlou in the department of Cheriba, Mouhoun province suffered a “barbaric attack,” Governor of Boucle du Mouhoun Babo Pierre Bassinga said in a statement.
“The gunmen targeted peaceful civilians” who were farming along the river, he said, adding that the “provisional death toll” included 33 people.
Local sources said heavily armed assailants on motorcycles had fired indiscriminately on the farmers.
On April 15, unidentified assailants killed 40 people and wounded 33 others in an attack on the army and volunteer forces in the same area in northern Burkina Faso near Ouahigouya.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been witnessing a spiral of violence due to attacks launched by armed groups across the border, resulted in the killing of more than 10,000 people over the past seven years, including civilians and military personnel, in addition to the displacement of two million people.
Source: Qatar News Agency