Hundreds die in Burkina Faso’s worst terrorist atrocity
At least 400 people died in a terrorist attack in northern Burkina Faso, according to local reports.
The Al Qaeda-linked militant group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) attacked the town of Barsalgho, in the Diocese of Kaya, on 24 August, killing hundreds of people – far more than initial estimates, victims’ relatives said.
A statement issued on 25 August by the “Justice for Barsalgho Collective” group described the attack as “horrific and barbaric”, adding: “It was carnage whose heavy toll has no equal in the nine years since terrorism took hold of Burkina Faso.”
“While awaiting a full count of the loss of human life, eyewitness accounts from families and credible sources in the locality 48 hours after the tragedy put the death toll at least 400,” it said, demanding an investigation into security failures.
Muslim and Christian residents were killed by JNIM insurgents who arrived on motorbikes while they were digging trenches on the orders of the military to defend against possible terrorist attacks. The relatives’ collective said troops had not provided adequate security for this work.
“We are outraged by the negligence that led to the mass murder of our parents, women, and children,” they said.
The group called on the government to declare those killed in the massacre as “national martyrs” and to grant the children orphaned in the attack the status of “Ward of the Nation”, as their parents were killed “while carrying out a public service mission.”
Bishop Théophile Nareh of Kaya announced a Triduum of prayer – including Mass, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and a community rosary – on 29-31 August, “to implore the grace of the conversion of creatures and for reparation for all the attacks on human life, all the innocent blood spilt like water by mankind.”
International bodies including the UN and the European Union also condemned that attack, Burkina Faso’s worst since the beginning of the JNIM insurgency in 2015.
The group’s operations, pursuing a regional caliphate in the Sahel, began in Mali and later expanded to Burkina Faso and parts of Niger. It has also carried out attacks in the northern regions of Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, and Togo.
Sources in the Diocese of Nouna near the Malian border told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that “around 5,000 women and children have sought refuge in the city” after terrorist attacks in the area, adding that they did not know the fate of men in the region.
ACN reported that terrorists killed a further 26 Christians in Sanaba, in western Burkina Faso, on 25 August, bringing the number of Christians killed in the country since May to more than 100.
Source » thetablet.co.uk
