The mass killings occurred on Feb. 25 in the northern villages of Nondin and Soro, and about 56 children were among the dead, the report said.

The rights group called on the United Nations and the African Union to provide investigators to support local efforts to bring those responsible to justice.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the United Nations had no confirmation of the attack, but added: “I can tell you that these reports are extremely, extremely disturbing and we will be looking into them.”

“The massacres in the villages of Nondin and Soro are just the latest in a series of massacres of civilians by Burkina Faso’s military in its counterinsurgency operations,” HRW’s acting Africa director, Tirana Hassan, said in a statement.

“International assistance is crucial to support a credible investigation into possible crimes against humanity,” she said.

Once peaceful Burkina Faso has been swept up in violence pitting Islamist extremists with links to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group against state-backed forces.

Both sides have targeted civilians, forcing more than two million people to flee their homes, more than half of them children.

Most of the abuses go unreported and unpunished in a country ruled by a repressive leadership that brooks no dissent.

HRW’s report provided a rare first-hand account of the killings by survivors amid a sharp increase in civilian casualties at the hands of Burkina Faso’s security forces as the military junta struggles to quell a growing jihadist insurgency and targets the population under the guise of counterterrorism.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in Burkina Faso since violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State first erupted in the West African country nine years ago, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit.

Burkina Faso has endured two coups in 2022. Since taking power in September of that year, the junta led by Capt. Ibrahim Traore has vowed to defeat the insurgents, but the violence has only worsened, analysts say.

About half the country’s territory is now outside government control.

Frustrated by the lack of progress after years of Western military aid, the junta severed military ties with former colonial power France and has turned to Russia for security support.

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