Suspected insurgents ambushed a military convoy carrying more than 1,000 civilians in Burkina Faso last week, leading to civilian deaths and injuries, the regional governor said in a statement published on Wednesday, without providing a death toll.

The ambush took place on August 9 in the village of Tawori in the east of the Sahel country, Governor Ram Joseph Kafando said in the statement, after visiting the wounded in hospital on Tuesday.

He did not say how many people had been injured, or whether any soldiers had been among the casualties.

Kafando praised the medical staff of the hospital where the injured had been taken as "doing a titanic job."

Militant insurgency

Burkina Faso and neighbouring Mali and Niger are fighting a militant insurgency that has spread across the Sahel region of West Africa since it first took root in Mali 12 years ago.

The failure of previous governments to protect civilians against the insurgency have contributed to two coups in Mali, two in Burkina Faso and one in Niger since 2020.

But the juntas have so far failed on their promises to stamp out the insurgency and end violence that has caused thousands of deaths and displaced millions.

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