About 170 people were “executed” after attacks on three villages in northern Burkina Faso a week ago, a regional prosecutor said on Sunday, as jihadist violence erupted in the military-ruled country.
On the same day, February 25, a mosque in eastern Burkina Faso and a Catholic church in northern Burkina Faso were attacked separately, killing dozens of people.
Aly Benjamin Coulibaly said he had received reports of attacks on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soroe in Yatenga province on February 25. Reports of the attack put preliminary estimates at “about 170 people executed.”
The attacks injured others and caused material damage, the prosecutor in the northern town of Ouahigua added in a statement, but did not pin blame on any group.
He said his office had ordered an investigation and appealed to the public for information.
Survivors of the attack told AFP that dozens of women and young children were among the victims.
Local security sources said the attacks were not related to fatal incidents that took place on the same day at a mosque in the rural community of Nadia Boani and a church in the village of Esakani.
Authorities have not released an official death toll from the attacks, but a senior church official said at the time that at least 15 civilians had been killed.
Burkina Faso has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency launched in 2015 by al-Qaeda and Islamic State militants that spread from neighboring Mali.
Violence in Burkina Faso has killed nearly 20,000 people and displaced more than 2 million people. Burkina Faso is one of the world’s poorest countries, located in the Sahel region, which is unstable.
Anger at the state’s inability to end insecurity played a major role in two military coups in 2022. Current strongman Ibrahim Traore has made fighting rebel groups a top priority.
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