A senior church official confirmed that 15 civilians have been killed following an attack on a Catholic church in north-eastern Burkina Faso on Sunday.
The church official indicated that the gunmen were allegedly extremist Islamists.
At Least 15 People Killed in Burkina Faso Church
Abbot Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, the leader of the local diocese, claimed in a statement that 12 people died at the scene instantly, and three others died at the hospital.
According to the statement, Sawadogo invited everyone to pray for those who died in faith, for the healing of the wounded, and for the consolidation of grieving hearts in this painful circumstance.
The attack happened in Essakane village, known as the "three borders" zone in the northeast of the landlocked West African country, near the borders with Mali and Niger.
This is the latest in a series of crimes that have been attributed to jihadist groups operating in the region, some of which have involved the abduction of clergy members, and others have involved attacks on Christian churches.
Burkina Faso is part of the vast Sahel region, which has been involved in the fight against rising violent extremism since the 2011 Libyan civil war and the 2012 Islamist takeover of northern Mali. The jihadist insurgency has spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.
When Capt. Ibrahim Traoré's took power in 2022, it marked the nation's second coup in less than a year, which both were partly brought on by discontent at the government's inability to stop the jihadist violence.
Furthermore, the violence in Burkina Faso has claimed the lives of about 20,000 people, and more than 2 million of the country's 24 million residents have been forced to flee their homes.
Bodies of 28 People Found in Burkina Faso
The government announced that the bodies of 28 people who were shot dead had been found in Burkina Faso's north-western town of Nouna.
The Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatisation of Communities (CISC) blamed the killings on armed civilians claiming to be members of a government-backed volunteer force fighting jihadists. The civil society group claimed that the killings happened in reprisal for an attack by suspected militants that occurred between December 29 and 30.
The government remained silent on the claim but said it was investigating.
According to The Guardian, a decade-long insurgency has struck Burkina Faso. The military took control of Burkina Faso last January and declared an end to the attacks, but the violence continues.
The government said the bodies were found on December 30 and 31. It denounced the "unacceptable violence" and demanded calm pending the outcome of an investigation.
Furthermore, it stated that the incident had occurred during a period when the government had started to mobilize the people for the unity of action in the fight against terrorism. The government has established the Homeland Defence Volunteers (VDP) and is actively seeking out civilian recruits for its ranks to fight militant Islamists.
