Burkina Faso declares national mourning over deadly terrorist attack

A two-day national mourning period have been decreed in Burkina Faso following recent terrorist attacks.

President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré announced via Twitter that the two-day mourning would begin Tuesday and end Wednesday.

This comes after the deadly attack in the north of the country that claimed the lives of 43 people. On Sunday, an unidentified armed group burst into the villages of Dinguila and Barga in Yatenga province leaving also leaving many hospitalised with injuries.

During this national mourning, flags will be flown at half-mast on all public buildings and popular festivities will be banned. In Burkina Faso 750,000 people have been displaced by violence – most of them since the beginning of the year.

In the face of renewed insecurity, the Burkinabe parliament recently adopted a law authorising the provision of weapons and two weeks of anti-jihadist training to volunteers. But local sources claim that these trained self-defence groups were behind the attack.