Forty-four civilians have been killed by “armed terrorist groups” in two villages in northeastern Burkina Faso, near the Niger border, a regional governor said Saturday.

The provisional toll of “this despicable and barbaric attack” which targeted the villages of Kourakou and Tondobi in northeast Burkina Faso overnight Thursday “is 44 civilians killed and others wounded,” said Rodolphe Sorgho, lieutenant-governor of the Sahel region.

Sorgho said that 31 people had died in Kourakou and 13 in Tondobi.

The regional official said that an army offensive put “out of action the armed terrorist groups” that carried out the killings.

The governor also assured that “actions to stabilise the area are under way”.

The twin attacks happened close to the village of Seytenga, where 86 civilians were killed last June in one of the bloodiest attacks of a long-running insurgency.

The impoverished Sahel country is grappling with a seven-year-old campaign by jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

Burkina Faso’s new military chief on Thursday vowed to step up a “dynamic offensive” against jihadists following a string of insurgent attacks since the start of the year.

“The dynamic offensive under way in the past few weeks will be stepped up to force armed groups to lay down their weapons,” said Colonel Celestin Simpore after a handover ceremony following his appointment last week.

Sorgho on Saturday invited the local population to join the Front for the Defence of the Fatherland (FDS) — a pro-junta movement, and enrol in the VDP volunteer militia.

Since the jihadists launched their campaign from neighbouring Mali in 2015, more than 10,000 civilians, troops and police have been killed, according to one NGO estimate, and at least two million people have been displaced.

Burkina Faso witnessed two coups last year. Since junta leader Ibrahim Traore seized power in September, the activities of all political parties and civil society organisations in the country have been suspended.

AFP