Türkiye ‘deeply saddened’ due to terrorist attack in Burkina Faso

By Merve Berker

ANKARA (AA) - Türkiye is “deeply saddened” regarding the terrorist attack on June 11-12 that killed 79 people in Burkina Faso to date, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

Ankara “strongly condemns this heinous attack,” that took place in the Seno province of Burkina Faso, the ministry stressed in a written statement, saying Türkiye extends “sincere condolences to the families of those who lost their lives, as well as to the friendly and brotherly people of Burkina Faso.”

The statement added that Türkiye also wished “swift recovery to the wounded.”

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

The insurgents had stormed 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 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 said an assessment was still underway to determine the number of displaced people.