<p>Thirteen civilians have been killed in separate attacks in northern Burkina Faso, a region battling a six-year-old jihadist insurgency, local sources said on Friday.</p>.<p>Eleven people were killed and one was wounded in an attack on Wednesday at the village of Ankouna, the governor of the Centre-North region, Casimir Segueda, said in a statement.</p>.<p>"This attack... targeted the civilian population," he said, adding that buildings in the local market had been set ablaze.</p>.<p>A local official told <em>AFP </em>that the attack was carried out "by several dozen heavily-armed men" travelling on motorbikes.</p>.<p>In a separate attack, two civilian volunteers working with the army's anti-jihadist campaign were killed at Noaka, also on Wednesday, and stores were put to the torch, the source said.</p>.<p>"The attacks have caused villagers to flee to the town of Kaya," the main town in the Centre-North region, the official said.</p>.<p>Burkina Faso has been struggling with jihadist attacks since 2015, when militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group began mounting cross-border raids from Mali.</p>.<p>More than 2,000 people have died, according to a toll compiled by <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>The national emergency aid agency says that 1.5 million people, nearly two-thirds of them children, were internally displaced as of November 30.</p>.<p>The country's security forces are poorly equipped to face a ruthless and highly mobile foe, adept at carrying out hit-and-run raids on motorbikes and aboard pickups.</p>.<p>On November 14, a force described as numbering several hundred men attacked a police base at Inata near the Malian border, killing 57 people, including 53 gendarmes.</p>.<p>On December 23, 41 people, including VDP escorts, were killed when a convoy of traders was ambushed near Ouahigouya, also near the Malian frontier.</p>.<p>The fatalities at Noaka were members of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Motherland (VDP), a civilian force set up to support army operations that has lost scores of lives in the past two years.</p>.<p>Volunteers receive 14 days of training and are then sent out on patrols and surveillance missions, equipped with light arms.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos:</strong></p>
<p>Thirteen civilians have been killed in separate attacks in northern Burkina Faso, a region battling a six-year-old jihadist insurgency, local sources said on Friday.</p>.<p>Eleven people were killed and one was wounded in an attack on Wednesday at the village of Ankouna, the governor of the Centre-North region, Casimir Segueda, said in a statement.</p>.<p>"This attack... targeted the civilian population," he said, adding that buildings in the local market had been set ablaze.</p>.<p>A local official told <em>AFP </em>that the attack was carried out "by several dozen heavily-armed men" travelling on motorbikes.</p>.<p>In a separate attack, two civilian volunteers working with the army's anti-jihadist campaign were killed at Noaka, also on Wednesday, and stores were put to the torch, the source said.</p>.<p>"The attacks have caused villagers to flee to the town of Kaya," the main town in the Centre-North region, the official said.</p>.<p>Burkina Faso has been struggling with jihadist attacks since 2015, when militants linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group began mounting cross-border raids from Mali.</p>.<p>More than 2,000 people have died, according to a toll compiled by <em>AFP</em>.</p>.<p>The national emergency aid agency says that 1.5 million people, nearly two-thirds of them children, were internally displaced as of November 30.</p>.<p>The country's security forces are poorly equipped to face a ruthless and highly mobile foe, adept at carrying out hit-and-run raids on motorbikes and aboard pickups.</p>.<p>On November 14, a force described as numbering several hundred men attacked a police base at Inata near the Malian border, killing 57 people, including 53 gendarmes.</p>.<p>On December 23, 41 people, including VDP escorts, were killed when a convoy of traders was ambushed near Ouahigouya, also near the Malian frontier.</p>.<p>The fatalities at Noaka were members of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Motherland (VDP), a civilian force set up to support army operations that has lost scores of lives in the past two years.</p>.<p>Volunteers receive 14 days of training and are then sent out on patrols and surveillance missions, equipped with light arms.</p>.<p><strong>Check out DH's latest videos:</strong></p>