No fewer than 60 people were killed by men in military uniforms in northern Burkina Faso.
Lamine Traore, Burkina Faso’s prosecutor, in a statement Sunday said the killings took place in the area of Barga, in Yatenga province.
He further said many others who were injured have been evacuated to hospitals and an investigation into the killings has been opened.
“My office was alerted about the seriousness of some of the facts. I, therefore, gave instructions to the investigation unit to carry out investigations in order to illuminate the said facts and hear all the people who are involved,” he said.
Jihadi fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have waged a violent insurgency in Burkina Faso for seven years. The violence has killed thousands of people, displaced some 2 million, and destabilised and divided the once peaceful country, leading to two coups last year.
Since Capt. Ibrahim Traore seized power in September during the second coup, extrajudicial killings of civilians have increased according to rights groups and residents.
Burkina Faso’s government recently announced it was opening other investigations into allegations of human rights abuses by its security forces after a video surfaced that appeared to show the extrajudicial killing of seven children in the country’s north.