OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) -Sixty-six women and children kidnapped by armed assailants in northern Burkina Faso last week have been freed, national broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina (RTP) said on Friday.
Armed men seized the women and their children on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13 outside two villages in the district of Arbinda, in the Sahel region’s Soum province, while they were scouring the bush for fruit and leaves.
Security forces staged a rescue operation and found 27 adult women and 39 babies, children and young girls in the adjacent Centre-North province.
“They have found freedom after eight long days in the hands of their kidnappers,” an RTP presenter said.
A government source confirmed the information but did not provide any detail.
(Reporting by Thiam NdiagaWriting by Sofia ChristensenEditing by Leslie Adler)
