At least 40 people were mowed down in three different attacks in the northwestern Kossi province of Burkina Faso bordering Mali.The first attack took place in the town of Dembo, in the commune of Nouna (west), on the night of Thursday to Friday, February 10, 2023. 

Sources say armed men raided a position held by the Volunteers for the Defense of the Motherland (VDPs).

“This was the first time they attacked our village. They often pass through here, but they have never killed anyone,” a local resident said.

The unofficial provisional death toll is seven civilian auxiliaries killed and five others wounded, the Dembo native said, adding that the attackers had damaged property and taken away animals.

Sanakadougou, also in the Kossi region, on the border with Mali, was raided twice by members of jihadist groups on Thursday, February 9 and Sunday, February 12. 

The attackers numbering dozens came in motorised pairs, to attack the village, located in the commune of Kombori.

At least 20 civilians were killed, nearly a dozen others wounded, and granaries and homes torched, according to reliable sources.

On Thursday, February 8, and Saturday, February 11, the village chief, his son, and five civilians, including two VDPs, were killed, in the same province but in the village of Yalankoro, according to local media reports.

As a result of these atrocities, “the population has begun to leave the area since Friday,” one eyewitness said. 

The social services in the town of Nouna told APA on Monday that they had received more than 700 displaced people last weekend.

Burkina Faso is facing an unprecedented security crisis, marked by a jihadist insurgency. 

The activities of jihadists of disparate groups have claimed thousands of victims and displaced nearly two million people.