Burkina Faso: dozens of soldiers, civilians killed in jihadist-hit north

At least 28 people, including soldiers and civilians, have been killed in two separate attacks by rebel fighters in northern Burkina Faso, a regional governor and the army said in separate statements.
The army said on Monday (30 January) that a combat unit in Falagountou, in the country’s north near its border with Niger, came under attack and that 10 soldiers, two fighters of the volunteer force and a civilian were killed. On the same day, the bodies of 15 men, all civilians, had been found following an attack on Sunday (29 January), authorities in the country’s Cascades region near the border with Ivory Coast said in a separate statement. Armed men had reportedly stopped two transport vehicles carrying eight women and 16 men, the women and one man were freed, the rest of the men were shot dead.
The latest killings come as Burkina Faso — and its neighbors in Mali and Niger — battle armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL who have occupied territory in the country’s arid and mainly rural north, executing hundreds of villagers and displacing nearly 2 million people. The fighters have blockaded towns and villages, worsening a food crisis. With more than a third of Burkina Faso now beyond the control of the government, frustration within the army regarding the handling of the security situation triggered two coups last year and has intensified political instability and strained relations with former colonial power France, which has fought against the armed groups in the Sahel region.