Two Spanish citizens and an Irish national who were abducted by gunmen in Burkina Faso have been killed, according to security sources in the country.
Spanish authorities later confirmed that two Spanish nationals had been killed in an ambush on an anti-poaching patrol in eastern Burkina Faso on Monday.
Security reports say the attackers were aboard two pick-up vehicles and a dozen motorbikes, adding that the assailants made off with vehicles and various weapons after the attack.
Foreign Minister Gonzalez Laya told a press conference that the two Spaniards were from northern Spain and were working on a documentary on how Burkina Faso authorities were tackling poaching and on the communities of people living in the wildlife park.
She said they were travelling at the time of the attack in a group with about 40 people, adding that it was a dangerous area where terrorists, bandits, jihadists usually operate.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez addressed the deaths of the two Spanish nationals in a tweeted statement, sending his condolences to the two men’s families which he named as David Beriain and Roberto Fraile.
Numerous other foreign workers have been kidnapped in recent years in the former French colony.
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