Gunmen killed 15 civilians in northern Burkina Faso over the weekend, security and local sources said on Monday, in the latest deadly attack as the impoverished West African country battles a jihadist revolt.
"On Saturday night numerous armed individuals attacked the village of Pobe-Mengao and kidnapped several residents, ransacked shops and carried away equipment," a local source said.
A security source said "the lifeless bodies of 11 people were found on Sunday morning... probably the bodies of those abducted the day before in Pobe-Mengao by an armed terrorist group".
The local source said that "after the attackers departed, the population started to leave the village to take refuge in Djibo - particularly after the bodies were discovered".
Djibo, the capital of the Soum province, is 25km from Pobe-Mengao.
The gunmen returned to Pobe-Mengao on Sunday morning, where they "shot in the air for several hours before leaving", said the source, who is a Djibo resident, quoting testimonies from the displaced villagers.
Four more bodies were found after the second onslaught, the source told AFP, bringing the death toll to at least 15.
The security source said that reinforcements had been sent to patrol the area.
Soum is one of a swathe of provinces in northern Burkina Faso that have been battling with a four-year-old wave of jihadist violence that came from neighboring Mali.
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