170 people killed in latest wave of Burkina Faso attacks

About 170 people were killed in attacks on three villages in northern Burkina Faso a week ago, a regional prosecutor Aly Benjamin Coulibaly said in a statement on Sunday.

The attacks left several others wounded and caused material damage, the prosecutor for the northern town of Ouahigouyasaid, without apportioning blame to any group.

Survivors of the attacks told news agency AFP that dozens of women and young children were among the victims.

The violence has killed almost 20,000 people and displaced more than two million in a region racked by instability.

Local security sources cited by AFP said the attacks were separate from deadly incidents that happened on the same day at a mosque in the rural community of Natiaboani in eastern Burkina Faso and a church in the northern village of Essakane.

About half of Burkina Faso is outside government control as armed groups have ravaged the country for years.

The current head of state, Captain Ibrahim Traore, has prioritised a strong security response in reclaiming land from the rebel groups.

There were a number of attacks on February 25, notably against a military detachment in Tankoualou in the east, a rapid response battalion in Kongoussi in the north and soldiers in the northern region of Ouahigouya.

In response, the army and members of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP), a civilian force that supports the military, launched operations that were able "to neutralise several hundred terrorists", according to security sources cited by AFP.

At the beginning of the week, Security Minister MahamadouSana described the wave of attacks as "coordinated".

"This change in the enemy's tactical approach is because terrorist bases have been destroyed as well as training camps, and actions were carried out to dry up the enemy's source of financing, as well as its supply corridors," said Sana.

Mosques and imams have in the past been the target of attacks blamed on armed groups.

Churches in Burkina Faso have also at times been targeted and Christians have been kidnapped.