Burkina Faso is regularly hit by terrorist violence in the Sahel. Forty civilians were killed in attacks in the north and centre-east of the country.
In mid-April, at least 24 people, including 20 Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP), civilian auxiliaries of the army, were killed. Over the past seven years, the violence has left more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers dead, according to NGOs, and more than two million internally displaced.