The army of Burkina Faso has claimed that during a military operation earlier this week in the southeast of the country, people were mistakenly killed.
The nation of West Africa has been waging a war against rebel groups that control vast parts of its territory and frequently launch assaults across the Sahel. Some of these groups have ties to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).
The army said in a statement on Wednesday that while the operations allowed for the neutralization of several dozen terrorists, the attacks “sadly inflicted collateral fatalities within the civilian population.”
How many civilians were murdered was not stated. According to the report, the casualties were struck by projectiles on Monday in the area between Kompienga and Pognoa, close to the Togolian border.
Last month, an air raid near the same border in Togo resulted in the unintentional deaths of seven children. Togo has been dealing with the spillover of militancy from Burkina Faso.
