A group of gunmen killed about 20 people in an attack on a cattle market in eastern Burkina Faso on August 7, the government said in a statement.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack in the village of Fada N’Gourma, around which the army is conducting a search operation.

An eye witness who was at the scene at the time of the attack told to local press: “About ten men came on motorcycles with weapons. I was buying poultry as usual. They passed us and headed for the sheep and oxen buyers. Everything was going well when suddenly we heard the crackling of guns. Everyone fled to hide. And soon after, the guns were silent and in their places the screams pierced the sky. Without trying to confirm or know anything, we all fled to get into the stock market place. When we returned, there were bodies and many injured. Seized with fear and panic, I quickly returned to Fada.”

Armed jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have killed hundreds of people in attacks over the last year in Sahelian country, forced more than half a million to flee, and eroded government control in most areas outside the capital.

The similar massacre took place in May, when a gumen opened fire killing 25 people in an attack on another cattle market in the eastern village of Kompienga.

Image: illustration, Burkina Faso village.