At least 15 people were killed and two injured in an attack on a Catholic church during Sunday Mass in Burkina Faso, a church official said.
Appealing for peace and security in Burkina Faso, Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, vice-general of the Diocese of Dori, condemned “those who continue to bring death and devastation to our country.”
“We would like to inform you that the Catholic community of Esakan village was the victim of a terrorist attack while they were gathering for Sunday prayers,” Sawadogo said. He added that the preliminary death toll was 15 people killed and two injured.
The village of Essakane, where the attack took place, is located in the so-called “tri-border” area in the northeast of the country, near the common border between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
This is the latest in a series of atrocities attributed to jihadist groups operating in the region, some of which have targeted Christian churches and others involved in the kidnapping of clergy. There is.
Burkina Faso is part of the vast Sahel region, which has been battling rising violent extremism since the 2011 Libyan civil war and subsequent Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012. The jihadist insurgency spread to Burkina Faso and Niger. 2015.
Captain Ibrahim Traore took power in 2022, marking the country’s second coup in less than a year. Both were partly triggered by frustration with the government’s failure to quell jihadist violence.
The violence has left around 20,000 people dead and more than 2 million displaced in Burkina Faso.
