Death toll from attack in Burkina Faso reaches 86

By Aurore Bonny

DOUALA, Cameroon (AA) - The death toll from an attack by insurgents in Burkina Faso’s northern town of Seytenga has risen to 86 as seven more bodies have been found, local authorities said Wednesday.

"The intervention units deployed in the commune of Seytenga since the tragedy occurred have discovered seven new lifeless bodies between yesterday and today. 79 bodies had already been found at the site, and the total number of victims is now estimated at 86 dead. The research is now complete," the government said in a statement.

Authorities in the West African country said investigations were ongoing to determine whether other bodies had been taken or already buried by victims’ relatives.

Insurgents stormed Seytenga and attacked civilians on the night of June 11-12, said government spokesman Wendkouni Joel Lionel Bilgo.

President Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the head of the junta, promised reprisals against the attackers when he visited the scene of the tragedy on Wednesday.

"We will do everything to find them and make them pay," he said, quoted by the local press.

He also reiterated his appeal to the population to cooperate with the defense and security forces so that the fight is a complete success and pledged to do everything possible to promote the rapid return of people to Seytenga, according to a government statement.

More than 3,173 people, including 2,173 children, had been displaced as of Sunday due to recent armed attacks in the communes of Seytenga and Titabe, according to the Directorate of Humanitarian Action, a local non-governmental organization based in the northeastern town of Dori.

Burkina Faso has been grappling with an insurgency that has spread from neighboring Mali over the past decade.

Last week, 11 gendarmerie officers were killed in an attack on the Seytenga Territorial Gendarmerie Brigade in the same Sahel region.