First modification:
A witness who worked in the security of the town of Arbinda (northern Burkina Faso) revealed that the number of women captured on Thursday and Friday by suspected jihadists is higher than originally disclosed.
Information has been circulating since Sunday about the kidnapping of some fifty women in two waves, on Thursday and Friday, by terrorists in the town of Arbinda, in northern Burkina Faso.
The information was confirmed by the Burkinabe authorities in a statement on Monday morning. In reality, there were not two, but three groups of women kidnapped in three locations: Boukouma, Wourougoudou and Trignien. It is about 80 people.
This resident, who helps protect Arbinda, explains that the women had gone out to pick fruit at the time of her abduction. “Forty-three women were first kidnapped near Boukouma. Another 18 people suffered the same fate in Wourougoudou, west of Arbinda. Finally, in a third town, called Trignien, the terrorists kidnapped a last group of 16 women. One He managed to escape from them.”
In his testimony, he explained that the attackers had taken cattle and that the victims had to drive the animals into the bush while their captors followed them on motorcycles. When they reached Gnafo, the terrorists paused to pray. It was then that he was able to escape. A second kidnapped woman said some 15 victims were taken to the town of Dala, where the perpetrators slaughtered a goat and gave the women rice to cook. She was able to escape while the food was being prepared.
The governor of the Sahel region said the search was ongoing. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Austrian Volker Türk, called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the hostages. Türk declared himself “alarmed” by the case, which he said could be “the first attack of its kind deliberately targeting women” in Burkina.
