Cape Town — Burkinabe troops have been accused of killing a group of boys and filming them in an 83-second video that surfaced in mid-February 2023. The army denied responsibility for the killings which are a potential war crime under international law, AfricaNews reports.

It is alleged that the killings occurred inside a military base about two kilometres northwest of Ouahigouya, a regional capital near which one of the victims lived. From their uniforms and vehicles, it was determined that the troops were members of Burkina Faso's security forces, which until recently received military training and hardware from the U.S. and the European Union.

In the video, the men are seen walking among the bloodied bodies of the boys who had their hands bound. It is believed that the incident occurred in mid-February 2023. The video then shows a man slamming a rock onto the head of one 16-year-old victim who has since been identified by his family.

Burkina Faso has been wracked by violence linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State militants for the past seven years. It has also seen the takeover by a military junta led by Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba.