Burkina Faso’s military accused of killings, torture in latest Human Rights Watch report

By ZANE IRWIN
Associated Press

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A new Human Rights Watch report is accusing Burkina Faso’s military of killing and torturing civilians in the country’s northeast. The report released on Thursday details violence between February and May in the province of Séno. The report identifies at least 27 people who were either summarily executed or disappeared and then killed, most of them members of the Fulani ethnic group. A Burkina Faso government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the report. Jihadi fighters linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have waged a violent insurgency in Burkina Faso for seven years. The violence has killed thousands of people and divided the country. It has also lead to two coups last year.