14 killed in jihadist attack in Burkina Faso

Armed men described as jihadists raided a village in Burkina Faso’s restive north, killing 14 people, plundering and burning shops and motorbikes, local and security sources said Saturday.

The raid took place on the night of Thursday to Friday with “around 20 individuals attacking the village of Diblou and killing 14 people,” a security source said.

“The terrorists burnt shops and motorcycles. Almost the entire market was looted,” a local resident said.

“Almost all the inhabitants fled to neighbouring areas.”

The poor Sahel state has been battling a rising wave of jihadist attacks over the last four years which began in the north but have since spread to the east, near the border with Togo and Benin.

Most attacks in the former French colony are attributed to the jihadist group Ansarul Islam, which emerged near the Mali border in December 2016, and to the JNIM (Group to Support Islam and Muslims), which has sworn allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Those groups are believed to be responsible for around 500 deaths since 2015. The capital Ouagadougou has been attacked three times.