Violence explodes in Burkina: 170 dead in a single day in three village attacks

Some 170 people were attended. "ex&eac;cutées" during "massive murderous attacks" three villages over the course of a single day last week in northern Burkina Faso led by by soldiers, prey to jihadist violence which is exploding.

That same day, February 25, separate massacres were committed in a mosque and a church in this Sahelian country.

In a press release published on Sunday, the prosecutor of Ouahigouya (North), Aly Benjamin Coulibaly, writes that he was informed on February 25 of “massive murderous attacks (which) were allegedly committed in the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soroe” in the province. of the Yatenga of the Northern region.

“The same sources indicated that the overall provisional toll stood at around 170 people executed, in addition to the injured people and the various other related material damage”, adds the prosecutor, without specifying who the perpetrators of the attacks are.

He indicates that “given the seriousness and circumstances of all these denunciations and information, my prosecutor's office instructed its judicial police services to open an investigation in order to elucidate the facts”.

The prosecutor launched “an appeal to all persons who have elements or information on these facts to communicate them” to the public prosecutor's office and/or the police.

Furthermore, he underlined, a team of investigators went on February 29 to the various villages concerned in order to “make all the findings and collect all the evidence”.

According to residents contacted by AFP, survivors said that dozens of women and young children were among the victims.

These attacks on three villages in the north are distinct from those which occurred the same day against a mosque in Natiaboani (east) and a church in Essakane-village (north), which left “dozens dead” , according to security and local sources at AFP.

No official report has been communicated on these attacks.

< p>– “Coordinated Attacks” –

Several other attacks also took place on February 25, notably against the military detachment of Tankoualou (east), against the 16th Rapid Intervention Battalion (Bir) near Kongoussi (north) and the mixed battalion in the Ouahigouya area (north). ).

The response of the army and its civilian auxiliaries, the Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP) made it possible to “neutralize several hundred terrorists”, according to secure sources.

At the beginning of the week, the Minister of Security, Mahamadou Sana, admitted on national television that “during (this) past weekend, we recorded several coordinated and simultaneous attacks on the national territory”.

“This change in the enemy's tactical posture is due to the fact that terrorist bases have been destroyed, as well as camps training and actions were carried out to dry up the enemy's sources of financing, as well as control of supply corridors”, he said.

Burkina Faso, led by soldiers who took power by force in 2022, has been confronted since 2015 with jihadist violence attributed to armed movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as reprisals attributed to armed forces and their auxiliaries, which left nearly 20,000 dead and more than two million displaced.

According to Acled, an organization which lists the victims of conflicts around the world, 439 people were killed in this violence in the month of January alone.

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