Ten killed after Burkina Faso bus hits landmine on Christmas Day

DAKAR (Reuters) – At least 10 people were killed and five others injured when a passenger bus triggered a landmine in eastern Burkina Faso on Christmas Day, the government said in a statement on Monday.

The bus was travelling from the market town of Fada N’Gourma around 220 km (136 miles) from the capital Ouagadougou, to the border town of Kantchari near neighbouring Niger.

No one has claimed responsibility, but the attack occurred in an area where the government is battling insurgents linked to al Qaeda in north Africa and Islamic State fighters.

The insurgents control swathes of territory in Burkina Faso. Since 2015 they have carried out raids and blockades of several towns in the north and eastern regions of the country, killing more than 2,000 people and displacing nearly 2 million.

(Reporting by Thiam Ndiaga; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Hugh Lawson and David Evans)