The death toll from a gun attack in northern Burkina Faso overnight from Friday to Saturday rose to 160, local sources told AFP today.
An earlier report last night put the death toll at 138.
A total of “160 bodies were buried yesterday (Saturday) in three graves for the local population of which about twenty were the bodies of children,” said a local official. The report was confirmed by another local source.
The bomber struck shortly after noon in the village of Solhan in Yangaro province, which borders Niger, and gunmen set fire to houses and the village market.
Al-Qaeda and Islamic State-linked jihadist attacks in the Sahel region of West Africa have risen sharply since the beginning of the year, especially in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, and civilians are paying the price.
Violence in Burkina Faso has displaced more than 1.14 million people in just two years, and the impoverished country is home to about 20,000 refugees from neighboring Mali, who are seeking safe haven to escape jihadist attacks.
