Around 60 civilians killed in northern Burkina Faso attack, prosecutor says

He said an investigation had been launched after the attack on the village of Karma in Yatenga province in the borderlands near Mali, an area overrun by Islamist groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that have carried out repeated attacks for years.

The statement gave no further details on the attack.

Since 2022, attacks by armed groups on civilians have surged while state security forces and volunteer defence troops have conducted a number of abusive counter-terrorism operations, Human Rights Watch said in March.

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

Unrest in the region began in Mali in 2012, when Islamists hijacked a Tuareg separatist uprising. The violence has since spread into Burkina Faso and Niger, killing thousands and displacing over 2.5 million people.