50 women were seized by alleged rebels in Burkina Faso.

In the northern province of Soum in Burkina Faso, gunmen reportedly kidnapped 50 women on January 12 and 13.

The women were abducted by armed men while collecting wild fruit west of the town of Aribinda, some 15 kilometers (9.32 miles) from the village of Liki.

Since 2015, Burkina Faso has struggled to control violence by armed groups with ties to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.

The administration announced on Monday that searches had begun in an effort to locate all of the innocent victims unharmed.

Local authorities claim that attempts to sweep the area by the army and its civilian auxiliary units have been fruitless.

Burkina Faso, one of the most impoverished nations in the world, has been battling to curb violent activities by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), which moved from neighboring Mali in 2015 despite expensive international military efforts to do so.

Two million people have been displaced, forced to live in temporary camps, and thousands of civilians and security personnel have died.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) representative and former president of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, claimed in June that just 60% of the nation is under the jurisdiction of the capital, Ouagadougou.

Two coups were carried out in 2022 by disgruntled army officers as a protest at the failure to end the conflict, with each military leader pledging to prioritize security.

According to French diplomats, as part of its efforts to resolve the crisis, Burkina Faso has hired the Wagner Group, a private Russian mercenary organization. The same thing was allegedly claimed in December by Nana Akufo-Addo, the president of neighboring Ghana.