Nineteen people killed in the volatile north of Burkina Faso



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Nineteen people died in the attack on a village in northern Burkina Faso, a security source said Monday.

"Dozens of armed men attacked Arbinda district, causing several deaths," said a local AFP official, who requested anonymity.

The attack took place "Sunday between 15:00 and 17:00", or between 15:00 and 17:00 GMT, announced the official.

An emergency meeting was underway to discuss the situation, the official said.

A security source said that 19 bodies had been found and that a search was being conducted for others.

Hours before the attack, gunmen had stopped three vehicles in Arbinda and set them on fire, killing one of the drivers, the source said.

Arbinda has witnessed a spate of jihadist violence in recent months, despite an intensification of security operations.

In April, 62 people were killed in jihadist attacks and ethnic clashes, and four people traveling by car were ambushed and killed.

Burkina Faso has suffered increasingly frequent and deadly attacks from several jihadist groups, including the Islamic and Muslim Support Group (GSIM) and the Islamic State of the Great Sahara.

The raids began in 2015 in the north before targeting the capital Ouagadougou and other regions, especially in the east.

According to an AFP count, more than 400 people have been killed since 2015 – mostly during lightning raids.

Hundreds of schools in the north of the country had to close after teachers started fleeing the area when they became targets.

Some Westerners have been taken hostage and sometimes even killed.

A former colonial leader, France has deployed 4,500 troops to Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad as part of a mission called Barkhane, to help local forces eliminate jihadists.

Burkina Faso has also joined four other Sahel countries (Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger) in an initiative to create a common anti-terrorist force of 5,000, also supported by France.

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