Burkina Faso attack leaves at least a dozen dead

At least 12 people have  killed in an attack in northern Burkina Faso on Saturday, local sources said, with the incident confirmed by a security source, as violence rages in the Sahel nation.

"On Saturday afternoon, armed men attacked Bani," a town about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Dori in the Sahel region, one resident said. "We deplore 12 dead according to the first toll," another witness said.

A security source confirmed the attack but gave no death toll.

A landlocked country in the heart of West Africa's Sahel, Burkina Faso is one of the world's most volatile and impoverished countries.

It has been struggling with an insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.

Thousands of civilians, troops and police have been killed, more than two million people have fled their homes, and around 40 percent of the country lies outside the government's control.

Anger within the military at the mounting toll sparked two coups in 2022, the most recent of which was in September when 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power.

He is standing by a pledge made by the preceding junta to stage elections for a civilian government by 2024.

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