Officials said the radio broadcasts of BBC Africa and the US-funded Voice of America (VOA) have been stopped and the websites of both organisations banned for two weeks

Burkina Faso has suspended the BBC and US public broadcaster Voice of America for two weeks over their coverage of a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report accusing the country’s army of the extrajudicial killings of civilians, authorities said late Thursday.

In the report based on its own investigation, the international organisation alleged that the Burkinabè military “summarily executed” 223 villagers, including at least 56 children, in February as part of a campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with jihadist militants.

The military has been in power in the West African country since a 2022 coup. HRW said that the army has repeatedly committed mass atrocities against civilians in the name of fighting terrorism.

The watchdog’s report alleged that Burkina Faso’s military killed 179 people in Soro and 44 others in the nearby Nondin, villages in the country’s north. It called the mass killings the country’s “worst army abuse” in nearly a decade and urged authorities to investigate the massacres.

HRW conducted its investigation after a regional prosecutor said in March that about 170 people were executed by unidentified assailants during attacks on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin, and Soro.

The Burkinabe army has not commented on the HRW allegations.

In a statement on Thursday, Burkina Faso’s media regulator warned all media outlets against covering the HRW report, threatening sanctions, state-owned media reported.

The country’s communication council said HRW’s report contains “peremptory and tendentious” declarations against the army likely to create public disorder and it would suspend the programmes of the broadcasters over their coverage of the story.

It added that the report had “hasty and biased declarations without tangible proof against the Burkinabe army”.

Authorities also said in a statement that they had ordered internet service providers to suspend access to the websites and other digital platforms of the BBC, VOA, and HRW from Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso’s communication spokeswoman Tonssira Myrian Corine Sanou warned other media networks to avoid reporting on the story.

In a news article on Friday reporting on its suspension, VOA said it “stands by its reporting about Burkina Faso and intends to continue to fully and fairly cover activities in the country”.

Supporters of the military junta have previously criticised the media for reporting alleged atrocities, saying such reports were designed to undermine the morale of the armed forces.

Last year, the military suspended French daily Le Monde, the Jeune Afrique magazine as well as French TV channels La Chaîne Info (LCI) and France24.

The military seized power promising to end an Islamist insurgency linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State. The violence has, however, continued to escalate, with more than a third of Burkina Faso controlled by jihadist groups.

Human rights groups, the European Union, and the UN have accused the country of abuses in its fight against insurgents, including indiscriminate killings and forced disappearances of civilians.