OUAGADOUGOU, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- Thirty people, including civilians, army soldiers and pro-government militiamen, were killed on Wednesday in double attacks by armed terrorist groups near the border with Niger, the defence ministry said on Thursday in a statement.
The unidentified attackers struck villages near the town of Markoye in the province of Oudalan near the border with Niger around midday on Wednesday, killing eleven civilians, according to the statement.
A unit of the military detachment of Markoye, with members of the Defense of the Motherland (VDP), was immediately deployed, according to the same source which specifies that during the operations, the unit was attacked around 4 p.m.
The victims of the second attack included 15 soldiers and four VDP members. More than 10 attackers were also killed, the statement said, adding that the area is currently under the control of military and the counter-offensive to find the attackers is ongoing.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been facing a worsening security situation with terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people and displaced over 1 million others. Enditem
