The military junta says it will strengthen security deployment in the north after the latest attack by the Al Qaeda branch
Aug. 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Around 25 people have been killed in a new attack by unidentified gunmen on a church in western Burkina Faso, just one day after around 100 civilians were killed in another attack by Al Qaeda’s affiliate in the north of the African country.
According to information gathered by French broadcaster Radio France Internationale, the attackers surrounded the church in the village of Kounla, after which they let women and children escape before executing the men present in the church.
The attackers also set fire to several houses before fleeing with an unspecified number of cattle. The attack, for which no one has yet claimed responsibility, caused the population of Kounla to flee to nearby Sanaba, located south of the village.
The military junta in power in Burkina Faso has not commented on these reports, which come after the Minister of Defense, Kassoum Coulibaly, assured that the transitional president, Ibrahim Traoré, will reinforce the security deployment in the Center-North region following the aforementioned attack in Barsalogho.
Coulibaly, who travelled to Mané with two other ministers on Wednesday, defended the need for “direct dialogue” with the residents of the area to “better understand the realities on the ground and adapt their strategies accordingly,” according to Burkina Faso’s state news agency, AIB.
The attack on Barsalogho was carried out by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) – an al-Qaeda affiliate in the Sahel region – and reports suggest that the death toll could be as high as 200, a figure not confirmed by Ouagadougou.
Burkina Faso, ruled since 2022 by a military junta headed by Traoré, has seen a significant increase in insecurity since 2015 due to the presence of both JNIM and the Islamic State branch, leading to a wave of internally displaced persons and refugees to other countries in the region.
Add Comment