According to the Senegalese military, 13 people were killed in the West African nation’s southern region of Casamance, on Saturday.
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The group of more than a dozen was, reportedly, gathering firewood in the forest when they were attacked. Seven others were also wounded in the massacre, an army spokesman, Abdoul Ndiaye, said.
The perpetrators remain unknown.
Reuters reported that the dead are teenagers, adding that hospital workers said some of the bodies had gunshot wounds, while others were decapitated.
The attack took place four miles outside of the town of Ziguinchor, following which heavy military presence has since been deployed nearby. The military theorizes that the attack could be connected to the recent release of two Movement of Democratic Forces for Casamance (MFDC) members.
The incident, which has renewed fears, is said to be one of the worst to occur in the area that has been plagued by decades-long violence from an insurgency.
Casamance is largely separated from the rest of Senegal by The Gambia.
The area is home to separatist rebels who, in 1982, formed the MFDC which has been largely dormant since a ceasefire in 2014.