Burkina Faso: 36 civilians killed in attack on market in Sanmatenga province

Thirty-six civilians were killed on Monday in an attack on a market in Sanmatenga province, which is located in the north of the country, the Burkinabe government said on Tuesday.

It added that the market in the Nagraogo village had been attacked and burned to the ground by armed militants.

"On Monday, January 20, a group of armed terrorists broke into a market in Nagraogo, where they killed 32 citizens and burned the market down. As they were retreating, they killed another four people near the village of Alamou. Apart from that, three people have been injured", the government said in a communique, released by the RTB radio station. "These repeated attacks on innocent civilians call for real cooperation between defence and security forces", the government added.

The President of Burkina Faso, Roch Marc Kabore, called for two days of national mourning after the incident. Nobody has taken responsibility for the attack yet.

The government also extended its condolences to the families of the victims.

Previously, dozens of Burkinabe civilians and soldiers were killed during Islamist attacks in the eastern and northern parts of the country.

The northern part of Burkina Faso has been suffering from the activities of Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda and Daesh (or ISIS) terrorist organisations since 2016.

In December 2019, at least 35 civilians were killed as a result of a terrorist attack in Burkina Faso's northern province of Soum.