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The government says members of the civilian-backed civil defense have been set up to help the army.
Dozens of people have been killed in an attack by armed groups in the troubled north of Burkina Faso.
The government said 41 people had been killed in the attack on Thursday.
In a statement released Saturday night, the government said the dead were members of a government-backed civilian self-defense civilian force known as the Mother Earth Defense Volunteers (VDP), set up to support the military.
According to local media, the ambush targeted a convoy of VDP-escorted merchants near Ouahigouya, a town not far from the Mali border.
Among the victims was Ladji Yoro, the leader of the VDP in Burkina Faso, who added that the identification of the victims was still ongoing.
Armed groups have encouraged religious and ethnic tensions between the farming and pastoralist communities to promote recruitment between the marginalized communities of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
Saturday’s attack was the deadliest since mid-November, with 57 people, including 53 gendarmes. they were killed in an attack in a gendarmerie post.
Burkina Faso’s ill-equipped army has struggled to sustain the spread of violence.
Last year, the government enlisted the help of militia volunteers to help the army, but they have suffered revenge from the rebels they are attacking and the communities they support.
At least 2,000 people have been killed in fighting and 1.4 million displaced.
Burkina Faso is also struggling political gap in the face of the escalating security crisis.
Anger with the security situation has spread since the November attack, which has sparked street protests. The public was also outraged that the troops had been without food for two weeks.
Last week, UN agencies said the escalation of violence in the wider Sahel region had led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
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