Death toll from Burkina Faso attack rises to 79, official says

By Aurore Bonny

DOUALA, Cameroon (AA) - The death toll from an armed attack by insurgents in the northern Burkina Faso town of Seytenga rose to 79, as 29 more bodies were found on Tuesday, an official said.

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

Burkina Faso has been battling 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.

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

Last week, the government stated that an assessment was still being undertaken to determine the number of displaced people.