OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) -Armed assailants have killed about 50 people in a part of eastern Burkina Faso ravaged by Islamist violence, the region’s governor said on Thursday.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack on Wednesday against residents of the rural commune of Madjoari, said Colonel Hubert Yameogo, the governor of the East Region.
Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have overrun swathes of Burkina Faso in recent years, part of a wider insurgency across West Africa’s semi-arid Sahel region.
Wednesday’s attack followed two others this month in Madjoari. One killed 17 civilians and another killed 11 soldiers.
Army officers overthrew Burkina Faso’s president in January, complaining about worsening Islamist violence.
(Reporting by Thiam Ndiaga; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Edmund Blair)
