OUAGADOUGOU: Burkina Faso has suspended the BBC and Voice of America radio networks from broadcasting for a fortnight for airing a rights report accusing the army of attacks on civilians, authorities said.

International NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Thursday said soldiers in Burkina Faso’s militant-hit north had killed at least 223 villagers, including 56 children, in two revenge attacks on February 25.

“The programmes of these two international radio networks broadcasting from Ouagadougou have been suspended for a period of two weeks,” the communications authority (CSC) announced late on Thursday.

It said the decision had been taken because BBC Africa and the VOA aired and also published a report on their digital platforms “accusing the Burkina army of abuses against the civilian population”.

‘170 people executed’ in attacks on Burkina villages: prosecutor

The body said the report contained “hasty and biased declarations without tangible proof against the Burkinabe army”.

Burkina Faso has not commented on the report. The West African nation has been battered by a militant insurgency that swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015.