Authorities discovered the bodies on December 30 and 31, and the investigation is ongoing. This week the public prosecutor is in Nouna Armel Sam said all the victims were men and that most had been shot. The prosecutor did not say more about the possible perpetrators or the motives for the act.

Commissioner Turk said he was pleased that the authorities were dealing with the matter. He invited them to K “fast, comprehensive, impartial and transparent” investigations and “punishing all those responsible regardless of their position.”

The human rights NGO Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization (CISC) said on Monday that the victims belonged to the traditional Dozo hunter community and that they were attacked “based on appearance and stigma”, reports the German portal Deutsche Welle.

The organization added that the killing followed reports of a terrorist attack on the local headquarters of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), a civilian auxiliary unit fighting alongside the army against Islamist fighters. The CISC said 28 members of the Dozo community were killed in retaliation by people claiming to be members of the VDP.

CISC Secretary Daoud Diallo he said yes “armed terrorist groups exploit such acts to attract new members from the public”.

The Turk, however, expressed his concern that such attacks could occur “related to the recruitment, arming and deployment of auxiliary forces in Burkina Faso”.

The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva stressed the need for stricter procedures for the selection of volunteers, training in international human rights and humanitarian law, effective oversight by security forces and transparency during recruitment.

Burkina Faso has been fighting Islamist rebels since 2015. In the conflict, several thousand people have died in the region, and several million have been displaced.