At least 50 civilians were killed this weekend in an attack by suspected jihadists in the village of Seytenga in northern Burkina Faso, one of the heaviest tolls since the military junta came to power in January.
The army went through all the houses and, so far, 50 bodies have been foundsaid government spokesman Lionel Bilgo, who feared a toll heavier.
Relatives returned to Seytenga and could retrieve the corpseshe explained at a press conference on Monday.
The attack took place overnight from Saturday to Sunday, a government spokesman said.
Revenge
Seytenga was hit on Thursday by a jihadist attack that killed 11 gendarmes. The Burkinabè army announced that it had killed about forty jihadists following this attack.
The Weekend Murders are retaliations for army actions that caused bloodshed within jihadist groups, Mr. Bilgo said.
The army is at workhe assured.
According to humanitarian organizations in the north of the country, 3,000 people have gathered in nearby towns since Sunday after fleeing Seytenga.
One of the heaviest tolls since January
It was one of the deadliest jihadist attacks since Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba was ousted in a coup at the end of January.
He then ousted President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, who became unpopular and accused of being ineffective against insecurity.
Two attacks in particular marked the spirits: the deadliest in the country’s history, against the village of Solhan (north-east), in June 2021-which killed 132 people, according to the government-, and of Inata (north ). ), in November 2021, in which 57 soldiers were killed.
This last attack caused an electric shock to the army, which seized power a few weeks later.
After the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba, who wanted to create security his prioritythe attacks of these movements affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the armed group Islamic State have stalled.
But they have taken and killed nearly 300 civilians and soldiers over the past three months.
The north and east of the country, which borders Mali and Niger, are the regions most affected by jihadist violence.
An abandoned population
On Saturday, several hundred people demonstrated in Pama (east) to protest abandonment from this part of the country, besieged according to them by jihadist groups since last February.
Since February, telephone wires and power lines have been sabotaged by armed jihadist groups, which also control the area’s main axes.
Some municipalities in the north and east like Djibo, Titao or Madjoari have been placed under blockade by jihadists. The army sometimes manages to send supply convoys there.
Our troops are strained, put under constant pressureidentified Lionel Bilgo on Monday.
Since 2015, attacks associated with jihadists have left more than 2,000 dead and nearly two million displaced in Burkina Faso.
France Media Agency
Source: Radio-Canada