OUAGADOUGOU — Seventeen people, including a soldier, were killed in weekend attacks in the north of Burkina Faso, security sources said on Sunday.

The country has been caught in a spate of violence generally blamed on a long-running insurgencies in the poor, fragile Sahel region.

On Saturday, about 20 men on motorcycles attacked the village of Komsilga in Bam province, killing nine people, security sources said. They also burned shops and two car tires.

Later on Saturday, seven people were killed at around 6:00 p.m. local time after armed individuals attacked the village of Deneon in the same province, a security source told AFP.

A third attack occurred on the same day in Deou in Soum province when a soldier was killed during an attack on an army unit, another security source said.

"Security measures have been reinforced and reinforcements have been deployed for sweeps in these areas," said the source.

The West African nation has become part of a four and a half year old insurgency in the Sahel region.

Many of the attacks have been attributed to groups affiliated to Al-Qaeda, and others to the Daesh (so-called IS) group.

More than 585 people have been killed since early 2015, according to an AFP toll.

The Burkinabe army, which itself has suffered heavy losses, has been unable to stop the attacks.

The violence, which at first was concentrated in the north of the country, has spread to other regions in the east and west.

The attacks have created a humanitarian crisis forcing 300,000 people to flee the north and eastern parts to the south.

The attacks have also fueled intercommunal violence and seen about 2,000 schools closed. — AFP