Dozens of civilians and soldiers were killed in attacks by alleged jihadist militias in the border regions of Mali and Burkina Faso.
In the Gao region of Mali, attackers on motorbikes killed more than 40 villagers, the AFP news agency reported on Monday, citing security forces and local authorities.
In Burkina Faso, near the border with Mali, twelve Burkinabe soldiers were apparently killed in an ambush.
"More than 40 civilians were killed by terrorists on Sunday in the villages of Karou, Ouatagouna and Daoutegeft," said a Malian security official.
The attackers "entered the villages and massacred everyone".
According to the KNA news agency, 48 people were killed in the attacks in the villages.
Act of retaliation for killed jihadist leaders?
A few hundred kilometers to the southwest, on the Burkinabe side of the border, suspected jihadists attacked a Burkinabe army intervention force.
According to KNA information, 12 Burkinabe soldiers were killed in the attack.
Burkinabe military circles said the attack was probably an act of retaliation "for the death of two jihadist leaders who (...) were neutralized by the armed forces".
The two wanted members of a group close to Al-Qaeda were killed by a special unit of the military on Saturday, according to official information.
Burkina Faso's President Roch Marc Christian Kabore announced on Twitter that he would wage “an uncompromising war against the barbarians”.
Jihadist and other groups continue to attack in Mali.
The violence began in 2012 with an Islamist-motivated uprising in the north of the West African country and quickly spread, including to neighboring countries Burkina Faso and Niger.
Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands are on the run.