Burkina Faso: 2 days of mourning after attack kills 36 civilians

Burkina Faso’s government has declared two days of national mourning following an attack on two villages that left at least 36 civilians dead, in the latest violence to rock the country.

A “terrorist group” on Monday killed 32 civilians when they attacked and burned a market in Nagraogo village before killing four more people in Alamou village, Communications Minister Remis Fulgance Dandjinou said in a statement late on Tuesday. Three other people were wounded in the attacks in Sanmatenga province, he added.

The incidents prompted hundreds of people to flee the area and take refuge in the city of Kaya, residents told AFP news agency.

Dandjinou expressed the government’s “consternation and anger” over the attack, while President Roch Marc Christian Kabore announced a two-day period of mourning – Wednesday and Thursday – during which flags will be flown at half-mast and festivals will be prohibited.