KIGALI, Rwanda

At least 223 civilians, including at least 56 children, were massacred by Burkina Faso's military in a single day this February, in apparent revenge attacks, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.

It said the killings could have been part of a widespread military campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with armed groups.

“Soldiers killed 44 people, including 20 children, in Nondin village, and 179 people, including 36 children, in the nearby Soro village, of Thiou district in the northern Yatenga province,” said the report, released on Thursday, describing the alleged Feb. 25 mass killings as “among the worst army abuse” incidents in the country since 2015.

There was no immediate comment from Burkina Faso authorities, but the transitional authorities have previously dismissed reports accusing soldiers of killing civilians.

Tirana Hassan, the rights group’s executive director, called the alleged massacres “just the latest mass killings of civilians by the Burkina Faso military in their counterinsurgency operations.”

“The repeated failure of the Burkinabe authorities to prevent and investigate such atrocities underlines why international assistance is critical to support a credible investigation into possible crimes against humanity,” said Hassan.

On March 1, Aly Benjamin Coulibaly, a provincial prosecutor, said he received reports of “massive deadly attacks” on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soro in the Yatenga province on Feb. 25, with a provisional toll of “around 170 people executed,” and that he ordered an investigation, according to the report.

Coulibaly later said, however, that when he visited the site of the reported massacres he was not able to locate the dozens of bodies he had expected.

The rights group interviewed 23 people, including 14 witnesses to the killings, three local civil society activists and three members of international organizations, said the report.

The group said it “verified videos and photographs shared by survivors of the aftermath of the killings and injured survivors.”

Government authorities should urgently undertake a thorough investigation with support from the African Union and UN, it said.

The landlocked African country witnessed two coups in 2022, first in January and then in September.