Suspected militants have massacred at least 138 civilians in Burkina Faso's volatile north in the deadliest attacks since violence erupted in the west African country in 2015, officials said.
President Roch Marc Christian Kabore denounced an attack near the borders with Mali and Niger, where militants linked to Al-Qaeda and Daesh have been targeting civilians and soldiers.
"Several injured have succumbed to their wounds and new bodies have been discovered. The still provisional toll is 138 deaths," one local official said Saturday evening.
"The bodies were buried in mass graves," the official said, adding that "there are dozens of injured" after the overnight attack by armed assailants.
"We must remain united and solid against these obscurantist forces," Kabore said, condemning the massacre in the village of Solhan as "barbaric" and "despicable."
Declaring three days of national mourning, ending Monday night at 11:59 pm, the government stated that "terrorists" killed civilians of all ages and set fire to homes and the main market.
A security source lamented "the heavy human toll, the worst recorded to date," while warning it could still increase.
Meanwhile, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres' spokesman said that he was "outraged" over the massacre.
Guterres "strongly condemns the heinous attack and underscores the urgent need for the international community to redouble support to Member States in the fight against violent extremism and its unacceptable human toll," Stephane Dujarric said in a statement, offering Burkinabe authorities the UN's "full support".
The assailants struck around 2:00 am (0200 GMT) against a position of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Motherland (VDP), a civilian defence force which backs the national army, before attacking homes and carrying out "executions," a local source said.
Opposition leader Eddie Komboigo demanded that "the massacre of our people, we never tire of repeating, must stop unconditionally. Every measure must be taken to protect the Burkinabe" people.
The VDP was set up in December 2019 to help Burkina's poorly-equipped military fight militants but it has suffered more than 200 fatalities, according to an AFP tally.
The volunteers are given two weeks' military training before working alongside the security forces, typically carrying out surveillance, information-gathering or escort duties.
Source: TRT World