In an attack on a community in Burkina Faso on Sunday, alleged Islamic terrorists killed no less than 22 people.
22 deaths have been confirmed in the attack on Bourasso on July 3, which occurred about 14 miles southeast of Nouna, according to local church and government officials.
A priest from Nouna’s cathedral parish, who said he knew nearly all the victims, told pontifical charity Aid to the Church in Need that the attackers “killed 14 people in front of the church.”
ACN wrote, “Then they went further into the centre of the village and killed 20 others, among them many Christians and followers of traditional African religion.”
One survivor of the attack told ACN that “The terrorists entered the village of Bourasso on motorbikes around 5pm on Sunday 3 July, and went off again without doing anything… But they came back during the night, threatening the villagers in the square in front of the church.”
The villagers asked to be spared, and it is then that the “doubtless several dozen” attackers began to shoot them.
The priest from Nouna said that “These people have nothing to do with politics or terrorist groups. They have nothing to defend themselves with when they are attacked. It’s absolute turmoil.”
“In spite of everything, we keep up our hope. We keep up our courage to live the days that God has given us,” he added. “Here, when you get up, you know that you are alive, but you don’t know if you will still be alive in the evening”.
On July 2, according to AFP, another attack by alleged jihadists in Yatenga province’s Namissiguima killed 12 people.
Islamist violence has increased recently in Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa.
The nation had a coup in January, and the newly elected president has stressed the significance of reestablishing security.
The new head of the Burkinabé armed forces, David Kabre, said Feb. 9, “My taking over command coincides with a badly degraded security situation marked by the resurgence of terrorist attacks in several parts of the country,” AFP reported.
Sister Suellen Tennyson, an 83-year-old American nun, was kidnapped from her community in Yalgo Parish of the Diocese of Kaya in April.
In February, there was an attack on and damage to a small seminary close to Fada N’gourma.
Several churches were attacked in 2019, and last year the body of a missing priest was found in a forest.
In December 2019 Bishop Justin Kientega of Ouahigouya said one such church attack was part of an attempt by radical Islamists to “provoke a conflict between the religions in a country where Christians and Muslims have always lived peaceably side by side.”
The majority of Burkinabes are Muslim (60%) whereas 23% are Christians (mostly Catholic) and 15% practise traditional indigenous beliefs.