A minimum of 15 civilians had been killed and two others injured in a “terrorist” assault on a Catholic church throughout Sunday Mass in northern Burkina Faso, a senior church official stated.
“We carry to your consideration a terrorist assault suffered by the Catholic group of the village of Essakane as we speak, February 25, whereas they had been gathering for Sunday prayers,” stated the pastor of the Dori diocese, Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, in a press release. declaration. despatched to AFP.
The preliminary toll was 15 useless and two injured, he added.
Sawadogo referred to as for peace and safety in Burkina Faso and denounced “those that proceed to wreak loss of life and destruction in our nation.”
The village of Essakane, the place the assault passed off, is positioned in what is named the “three borders” zone within the northeast of the nation, near the widespread borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
That is simply the newest in a sequence of atrocities attributed to jihadist teams working within the area, a few of which have focused Christian church buildings whereas others have concerned the kidnapping of clerics.
Burkina Faso is a part of the huge Sahel area, which has been locked in a battle towards rising violent extremism since Libya's 2011 civil struggle, adopted by an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012.
The jihadist insurgency unfold to Burkina Faso and Niger from 2015.
When Captain Ibrahim Traore seized energy in 2022, it was the nation's second coup in lower than a 12 months – each sparked by discontent over the federal government's incapacity to quell jihadist violence.
About 20,000 individuals in Burkina Faso have died within the violence, whereas greater than two million individuals have fled.
AFP
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