Anxious families look for missing relatives after deadly Burkina Faso
mine ambush
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[November 08, 2019]
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Distraught
families urged authorities to let them view the bodies of victims of an
attack near a gold mine in Burkina Faso as dozens of workers who could
have been caught in the ambush remained unaccounted for on Friday.
At least 38 people were killed on Wednesday when a convoy of five buses
came under fire by militants on a road leading to the Boungou mine,
operated by Canadian gold miner Semafo <SMF.TO>.
Public prosecutor Harouna Yoda said the government had opened an
investigation in the attack.
The 38 bodies had been registered at the morgue of the Bogodogo District
Hospital in the capital Ouagadougou, he said. The wounded were being
treated there too.
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Anxious families waited outside the hospital, with several people saying
their relatives were still unaccounted for and expressing anger at the
lack of information.
"I understand the coroner has to carry out their work on the bodies, but
they should identify them too," one man, Ismail Roamba, told Reuters.
"The government should allow at least one family member to go and
identify a body."
Sixty people were wounded in the attack, authorities said. It was
unclear exactly how many people were in the convoy, what their
nationalities were or how many were missing. Two security sources said
dozens may still be unaccounted for.
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![](../images/110819pics/news_o29.jpg)
Family members of victims of an ambush on workers near a
Canadian-owned mine, react during their meeting with officials in
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso November 7, 2019. REUTERS/Anne Mimault
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Two separate sources said the convoy left weekly carrying about 250
staff, usually in five buses of 50 to 60 people each.
Burkina Faso has suffered a homegrown insurgency for the past three
years, amplified by a spillover of jihadist violence and criminality
from its chaotic northern neighbor Mali.
It was not known which group the assailants in Wednesday's attack
may have belonged too.
In 2016, an attack by Islamist militants on a hotel and restaurant
in the capital killed 30 people, and a similar assault the next year
killed 19 people.
In 2018, 16 people were killed when militants hit the French Embassy
and the army headquarters in Ouagadougou.
The Boungou mine is located in Burkina Faso's Eastern region about
355 km (220 miles) from Ouagadougou. Semafo has said the mine site
is secured, but it has suspended operations there.
(Writing by Anna Pujol-Mazzini, editing by Alessandra Prentice and
Angus MacSwan)
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