Sharjah24 – AFP: Suspected militias have massacred at least 138 civilians in Burkina Faso's volatile north in the deadliest attacks since Islamist violence erupted in the west African country in 2015, officials said Saturday.
President Roch Marc Christian Kabore denounced an attack near the borders with Mali and Niger, where linked to Al-Qaeda and Daesh have been targeting civilians and soldiers.
"Several injured have succumbed to their wounds and new bodies have been discovered. The still provisional toll is 138 deaths," one local official said Saturday evening.
"The bodies were buried in mass graves," the official said, adding that "there are dozens of injured" after the overnight attack by armed assailants.
Declaring three days of national mourning, ending Monday night at 11:59 pm, the government stated that "terrorists," killed civilians of all ages and set fire to homes and the main market.
A security source lamented "the heavy human toll, the worst recorded to date," while warning it could still increase.
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