Dozens killed in attack in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso soldiers during a training drill at a military camp near Ouagadougo in April 2018. [AFP]

Civilians are among the dozens of people killed in an attack by militants in Burkina Faso, local and security sources told AFP on Sunday.

Jihadist rebels affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have waged a grinding insurgency since 2015 in Burkina Faso that has killed thousands and displaced two million people.

The latest attack was carried out by armed men in the village of Barsalogho in north-central Burkina Faso on Saturday, multiple sources said.

Denouncing the "cowardly and barbaric attack", Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo said it was carried out by "hordes of criminals".

The assailants targeted "women, children, elderly, men, making no distinction", Ouedraogo said on national television.

A local resident told AFP by phone that the assault happened around 9:00 am on Saturday, when "terrorist groups attacked the village, killing numerous civilians and security personnel".

A security source who asked not to be named said there were "several dozen dead" including civilians and security forces.

Most of the "numerous wounded" were taken to a hospital in the regional capital of Kaya, some 45 kilometres (28 miles) away, the source added.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to another local resident, the victims were mainly "young civilians, who came out in large numbers to help the soldiers dig trenches around the town, to protect themselves from possible attacks by armed terrorist groups".

A second security source said that "the response of the soldiers" and auxiliary troops "made it possible to neutralise several terrorists and avoid a greater tragedy".

According to a hospital source in Kaya, more than 100 wounded people were taken to the city's largest medical centre.

The chief of the centre called on all personnel to come in to deal with the "emergency linked to a massive influx of patients since the morning of (Saturday) August 24", according to an internal note seen by AFP.

Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said civilians were killed in the attack, despite "a response and air support".

Soldiers and members of a civilian force that supports the military -- Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) -- were also killed according to Sana.

After taking power in a putsch in September 2022, Burkina's coup leaders expelled troops and diplomats from former colonial ruler France, and have turned to Russia for military assistance.