Burkina Faso’s army on Wednesday admitted to have accidentally killed civilians during a military operation in the country’s southeast earlier this week, reported The Reuters.
In a statement, the army said that it carried out targeted actions in the east against terrorist groups on Monday.
“During these operations, which enabled several dozen terrorists to be neutralised, the strikes unfortunately caused collateral victims among the civilian population,” the statement said.
It added that the civilians were close to a militant hideout on the Kompienga-Pognoa highway when they were hit by projectiles.
Burkina Faso’s army gave no other details, but expressed deepest condolences to relatives of the dead and said an inquiry had been launched. Monday’s operations were undertaken at Djamanga, Djabiga, Mandeni, Bounou, Obiagou and Pognoa-Sankoado.
Local residents reported that around 30 people had died, most of whom were women.
One of them, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that they had gathered for the inauguration of a mill when the tragedy happened.
Burkina Faso’s army haver increasingly used air raids against the militants in recent months.
The army has previously acknowledged the death of a civilian which it said occurred on June 11 during a strike on armed traffickers in the south. Military prosecutors have opened an inquiry.
Togo, which has been struggling to control the spillover of militancy from Burkina Faso, accidentally killed seven civilians in an air strike last month in the same border zone.
In June, Burkina Faso ordered civilians to evacuate two large areas in its northern and southeastern regions ahead of anticipated operations against militants.
The strikes that hit civilians on Monday were near but outside one of those zones.
Burkina Faso has been struggling to control Islamist militant groups active in the region, including some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State, since 2015. The fighting has displaced over 1.85 million in the West African country alone and killed thousands across the Sahel.
