A senior church official reported that during Sunday service in northern Burkina Faso, a “terrorist” attack on a Catholic church resulted in at least 15 civilian deaths and two injuries.
“We bring to your attention a terrorist attack which the Catholic community of Essakane village was the victim of today, February 25, while they were gathered for Sunday prayer,” the vicar of the Dori diocese, Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, said in a statement sent to AFP.
The provisional toll was 15 killed and two wounded, he added.
Calling for peace and security in Burkina Faso, Sawadogo denounced “those who continue to wreak death and desolation in our country”.
The incident happened in the northeast of the nation, close to the shared borders of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. This area is known as the “three borders” zone.
This is simply the most recent in a string of crimes attributed to jihadist organizations operating in the area; some have involved the kidnapping of clergy members, while others have targeted Christian churches.
Part of the vast Sahel area, Burkina Faso has been caught up in the fight against violent extremism since the 2011 Libyan civil war and the 2012 Islamist seizure of northern Mali.
Beginning in 2015, the Islamic insurgency spread to Niger and Burkina Faso.
It was the nation’s second coup in less than a year when Captain Ibrahim Traore took over in 2022; both were partly brought on by dissatisfaction with the government’s inability to stop the atrocities committed by jihadists.
In Burkina Faso, the violence has claimed the lives of almost 20,000 people and resulted in over two million being displaced.
