At least 40 civilians were killed last weekend by al-Qaida-linked rebels trying to take control of a besieged town in Burkina Faso's hard-hit northern region, the United Nations' rights office said, calling the attack a war crime.
In one of the largest clashes in recent years in the West African nation under threat from fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, a large number of fighters tried to take control of Djibo near Mali's border.
The militants in the latest attack, which happened on Sunday, also wounded 42 people and set fire to three camps for internally displaced people, UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Seif Magango said in a statement on Tuesday that blamed the attack on JNIM, an umbrella coalition of armed groups aligned with al-Qaida.
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