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Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | AFP | A mayor in northern Burkina Faso has been shot dead by “unidentified armed individuals” in a zone bordering Mali repeatedly targeted by jihadists, security sources told AFP on Monday.
Hamidou Koundaba, the mayor of the Koutougou department in Soum province, was “coldly killed” when gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on him near his home on Sunday night, a security source said.
“I strongly condemn the cowardly and despicable murder,” President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on Twitter.
The troubled Sahel region of the west African country has been the target of numerous jihadist attacks since 2015, including the kidnapping of local officials.
Last month a former municipal councillor was abducted in Lassa village, also in Soum, by gunmen on motorcycles. He was released several days later.
According to official figures, 80 jihadist attacks have occurred in northern Burkina Faso over the past three years, leaving 133 dead.
The capital Ouagadougou has also come under attack, most recently in March when eight soldiers were killed and 85 people wounded in twin attacks on the country’s military headquarters and the French embassy.
