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BURKINA FASO: Gunmen kill 18 civilians in renewed violence

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Burkina troops kill 32 terrorists during operations

Renewed violence in Burkina Faso has witnessed the killing of no fewer than 18 people killed in the Seno province by heavily armed men on motorbikes, according to security officials.

Speaking also, a local health official from the town of Dori in the north, said the village’s chief nurse was among the victims killed in the latest attack which has rocked the region plagued by a swiftly deteriorating security situation.

“There is panic in the village and the surrounding area,” the official informed adding further that local people were fleeing towards the centre of the country.

Heavily armed men on motorbikes on Saturday attacked Lamdamol village in the Bani municipality, north of the capital, Ouagadougou, a security source said on Monday.

The incident comes after a Christmas Eve attack which witnessed the killing of no fewer than 35 civilians, mostly women, alongside seven soldiers and at least 80 armed fighters in the Soum province following a double jihadist attack.

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The double attack on a military base and Arbinda town in Soum province, in the country’s north is one of the deadliest assaults to hit Burkina Faso in nearly five years of violence, the military said in a statement at the time.

Last month, the United Nations envoy for West Africa also told the Security Council that attacks have increased fivefold in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger since 2016, as more than 4,000 deaths were reported in 2019.

“The military capabilities to cover this wide area are a challenge,” Michael Amoah, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, told Al Jazeera.

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