Burkina Faso botched FGM leaves 50 girls in hospital

? traditional surgeon is seen holding razor blades used to carry out female circumcision(Courtesy)

Approximately 50 girls are being treated in Burkina Faso after botched female genital mutilation, a minister says.    

The circumcisions took place in the Kaya area, about 100km (60 miles) north of the capital, Ouagadougou, between 4 and 6 September.

Some of the victims are as young as four years, authorities say.

Not all girls who underwent the circumcision have been traced, Minister of Women's Affairs, Laurence Marshall Ilboudo, said.

A dozen girls have been admitted to the Kaya Regional Hospital and 38 to the Chiphra Protestant Hospital in the capital.

Dr Dieudonne Ouedraogo told an international media that some of the girls had suffered serious complications.

The parents of some girls, along with two 60-year-old women, have been arrested.

FGM has been illegal in Burkina Faso since 1996 and offenders face up to three years in prison.

According to UN children agency Unicef, about three-quarters of women and girls in Burkina Faso have undergone circumcision, but only 9% favour the practice.