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Burkina Faso declares two days of mourning after attack kills 36 civilians
TRACKING____Burkina Faso’s government has declared two days of national mourning following an attack on two villages, in which at least 36 civilians were killed, in the latest violence to rock the country.
A “terrorist group” on Monday killed 32 civilians when they attacked and burned a market in Nagraogo village before killing four more people in Alamou village, Communications Minister Remis Fulgance Dandjinou said in a statement late on Tuesday. Three other people were wounded in the attacks in Sanmatenga province, he added.
The incidents prompted hundreds of people to flee the area and take refuge in the city of Kaya, residents told AFP.
Dandjinou expressed the government’s “consternation and anger” over the attack, while President Roch Marc Christian Kabore announced a two-day period of mourning – on Wednesday and Thursday – during which flags will be flown at half-mast and festivals will be prohibited.
Burkina Faso, as well as neighbouring Mali and Niger, has seen frequent attacks by armed groups since the start of 2015 when violence began to spread across the Sahel region.