Suspected militants kill more than a dozen civilians in Burkina Faso

Suspected militants have killed 22 civilians in the north and west of Burkina Faso, security and local sources said.

Sixteen civilians from volunteer auxiliaries backing up the army were killed in the deeply troubled north, a security source said on Saturday, adding that some of the attackers had also suffered "losses".

A resident said two other civilians also perished in the attack in a village near Boulsa, the main town in the Namentenga province, adding that the attackers also torched homes, motorcycles and the local market.

A second security source said four civilians from another volunteer auxiliary group died in an attack in the town of Fo in the west on Friday.

Fo has been repeatedly targeted by militants in the past weeks and most of the inhabitants have fled.

Burkina Faso has been struggling with a militant insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

More than 10,000 civilians, troops and police have died in the violence, according to an NGO count, while at least two million people have been displaced.

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Source: TRT