Open in full screen mode Jihadist violence that began in 2015 in Burkina Faso has only intensified since then, causing more than 10,000 civilian and military deaths. (Archive photo) Agence France-Presse Some 170 people were 'executed' in 'massive deadly attacks' on three villages in a single day last week in violence-plagued military-run northern Burkina Faso jihadists who explode. That same day, February 25, separate massacres were committed in a mosque and a church in this Sahelian country. p> In a press release published on Sunday, the prosecutor of Ouahigouya (North), Aly Benjamin Coulibaly, writes that he was informed on February 25 of massive murderous attacks [which] were allegedly committed in the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soroe in the Yatenga province, Northern region. The same sources indicated that the overall provisional toll stood at around 170 executed people, in addition to the injured people and various other related material damage, adds the prosecutor, without specifying who the perpetrators of the attacks are. He indicates that in view of the seriousness and circumstances of all these denunciations and information, my public prosecutor's office instructed its judicial police services to open an investigation in order to elucidate the facts.
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The prosecutor launched an appeal to all people who have elements or information on these facts to communicate them to the prosecution or the police.
Moreover, he underlined, a team of investigators went on February 29 to the different villages targeted in order to carry out all the findings and collect all the elements of proof.
According to residents contacted by AFP, survivors said that dozens of women and young children were among the victims.< /p>
These attacks on three villages in the north are distinct from those that occurred the same day against a mosque in Natiaboani (east) and a church in Essakane-village (north ), which left dozens dead, according to security and local AFP sources.
No official report has been communicated regarding these attacks.
Several other attacks also took place on February 25, notably against the military detachment of Tankoualou (east), the 16th Rapid Intervention Battalion (Bir) near Kongoussi (north) and the mixed battalion in the area of ;Ouahigouya (north).
The response of the army and its civilian auxiliaries, the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP), made it possible to neutralize several hundred terrorists, according to security sources.
At the beginning of the week, the Minister of Security, Mahamadou Sana, admitted on national television that during [this] past weekend, we recorded several coordinated and simultaneous attacks on the national territory .
This change in the enemy's tactical posture is due to the fact that destroyed terrorist bases, as well as training camps and actions have been carried out to dry up the enemy's sources of financing, as well as control of supply corridors, he said.
Burkina Faso , led by soldiers who took power by force in 2022, has faced jihadist violence since 2015 attributed to armed movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as reprisals attributed to the forces armies and their auxiliaries, which left nearly 20,000 dead and more than two million displaced.
According to ACLED, an organization which lists the victims of conflicts around the world, 439 people were killed in violence in January alone.