Be informed. Be challenged. Be inspired.

At least 132 civilians killed in Burkina Faso’s worst attack in years

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Reuters

The death toll from the worst militant attack in Burkina Faso in recent years has risen to 132, the government said on Saturday, after armed assailants laid siege overnight to a village in the jihadist-plagued north-east.

The attackers struck during the night on Friday, killing residents of the village of Solhan in Yagha province, bordering Niger. They also burned homes and the market, the government said in a statement.

It declared a 72-hour period of national mourning, describing the attackers as terrorists, although no group has claimed responsibility. Another 40 residents were wounded, government spokesperson Ousseni Tamboura later told reporters.

The United Nations said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was outraged by the attack, whose victims included seven children.

Despite the presence of thousands of UN peacekeepers, attacks by jihadists linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State in West Africa’s Sahel region have risen sharply since the start of the year, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, with civilians bearing the brunt.

The violence in Burkina Faso has displaced more than 1.14 million people in just over two years, while the poor, arid country is hosting some 20,000 refugees from neighbouring Mali.

The latest attack pushes the number killed by armed Islamists in the Sahel region to over 500 since January, according to Human Rights Watch’s West Africa director, Corinne Dufka.

“The dynamic is the jihadists come in, they overpower the civil defence post and engage in collective punishment against the rest of the village – it’s a pattern we’ve seen everywhere this year,” Dufka said.

In March, attackers killed 137 people in coordinated raids on villages in south-western Niger.

– Additional reporting by EDWARD MCALLISTER

Donate



sight plus logo

Sight+ is a new benefits program we’ve launched to reward people who have supported us with annual donations of $26 or more. To find out more about Sight+ and how you can support the work of Sight, head to our Sight+ page.

Musings

TAKE PART IN THE SIGHT READER SURVEY!

We’re interested to find out more about you, our readers, as we improve and expand our coverage and so we’re asking all of our readers to take this survey (it’ll only take a couple of minutes).

To take part in the survey, simply follow this link…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For security, use of Google's reCAPTCHA service is required which is subject to the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.