Death Toll From Burkina Attack Rises To 79

The death toll from a massacre by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso last weekend has risen to 79, the government said Tuesday

Ouagadougou, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Jun, 2022 ) :The death toll from a massacre by suspected jihadists in northern Burkina Faso last weekend has risen to 79, the government said Tuesday.

"Twenty-nine more bodies have been found. This figure adds to the 50 bodies that have already been found, bringing the provisional toll of victims of the killings to 79 dead," it said in a statement, adding that search operations were continuing.

The attack unfolded overnight Saturday in the village of Seytenga.

It came after two days after a jihadist attack on government forces that prompted an army offensive against the militants.

The country on Monday began three days of mourning following the bloodshed.

The attack is the deadliest since the military seized power in January over frustration at failures to stem Burkina's years-long jihadist insurgency.

The new strongman, Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, named security to be his key priority.

But after a lull, attacks resumed. Several hundred civilians and members of the security forces have died in the past three months.