Around 60 killed in Burkina attack last month

Around 60 people were killed when suspected jihadists attacked a community in eastern Burkina Faso last month, but no official toll was given, a human rights group said Tuesday.

National and regional authorities did not respond to AFP’s requests for comment.

On February 26, “armed terrorist groups invaded the commune (Partiaga), killing, destroying property and taking away cattle,” the Burkinabe Movement for Human and Peoples’ Rights (MBDHP) said in a statement.

“In the absence of any intervention by the security forces, the horror lasted all day, with (a volunteer force supporting military anti-jihadist efforts) quickly overwhelmed,” it said, adding that “around 60 people were killed as well as those missing”.

The MBDHP criticised the absence of an official toll. The governor of the eastern region where Partiaga is located, Hubert Yameogo, said last week that a toll would be established “as soon as possible”.

The MBDHP, which said the attack caused extensive damage and “massive displacement” of people, called on the authorities to “secure the population and their property”.

After the attack, local residents described the “horror” hitting their community, saying the army had left the area and “abandoned the population”.

Three days after the attack, several thousand people demonstrated in the nearby town of Diapaga to demand “more security”.

Jihadist violence has intensified in Burkina Faso since the start of the year, with dozens of civilians and soldiers killed almost weekly.

In February, after another attack that killed 51 soldiers in the north of the country, Captain Ibrahim Traore, the transitional president who came to power in a coup nearly six months ago, had shown and reiterated his “determination” to fight the jihadists.

Violence blamed on groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group has killed more than 10,000 civilians and soldiers since 2015, according to non-governmental organisations.

Source: modernghana