An unknown armed group has killed 25 displaced people in Burkina Faso, the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday.

The victims, all men, were killed when their convoy of 46 people was ambushed near the village of Ouintokoulga in the Centre-Nord region on the night of Oct. 4, the agency said in a statement.

The men were separated from the group and executed. Another man was seriously injured and left to die, according to the statement.

UNHCR said Women and children travelling as part of the convoy were later released and the armed group fled the scene

The north of Burkina Faso, which borders on Mali and Niger, serves as a refuge for Islamist extremists who regularly attack the civilian population.

Hundreds of civilians have been killed during such attacks this year alone, according to UNHCR.

Burkina Faso is now the world’s fastest-growing displacement and protection crisis with over 1 million people, more than one in every 20 inhabitants displaced by surging violence inside the West African nation.

Many people have fled multiple times in Burkina Faso’s north and east, the UN said.(Text, excluding headline, courtesy dpa/NAN)