At least 15 civilians were killed and two others injured in a “terrorist” attack on a Catholic church on Sunday in northern Burkina Faso. UCA News reported this on February 26, citing a senior church official.
“We would like to draw your attention to the terrorist attack that targeted the Catholic community of Essakane village on February 25 as they gathered for Sunday prayers.”said Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, vicar of the diocese of Dory.
According to him, preliminary losses amounted to 15 dead and two wounded.
Calling for peace and security in Burkina Faso, Sawadogo condemned “those who continue to spread death and devastation in our country.”
The town of Essakane, where the attack took place, is located in the so-called “three borders” zone in the northeast of the country, near the common borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
It is just the latest in a series of atrocities attributed to jihadist groups operating in the region, some attacking Christian churches and others involving the kidnapping of Christian clerics.
Burkina Faso is part of the vast Sahel region, which has been battling rising violent extremism since the Libyan Civil War in 2011, followed by the Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012.
In 2015, the jihadist uprising spread to Burkina Faso and Niger.
When Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power in 2022, it was the country’s second coup in less than a year. Both coups were fueled in part by public dissatisfaction with the government’s failure to quell jihadist violence.
Some 20,000 people in Burkina Faso were killed in the violence, and more than two million were forced from their homes.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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