Nearly 600 people were killed within hours in an attack on the town of Barsalogho in Burkina Faso in August by members linked to al-Qaeda, a report claimed on Friday. Residents of Barsalogho were shot dead on 24 August while they were digging defensive trenches.
The attack, in which most of the victims were women and children, was one of the deadliest in the history of the West African country, which is battling a jihadist insurgency waged by insurgents linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. From neighboring country Mali in 2015.
Members of Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen (JNIM), an affiliate of Mali-based al-Qaeda and active in Burkina Faso, shot villagers as they entered the outskirts of Barsalogho on bikes.
While the United Nations estimated the death toll at around 200, JNIM said it had killed around 300 “combatants”. However, CNN, citing French government security assessments, reported that 600 people were shot dead in the attack.
One man, who said he was one of dozens of people told by the military to dig trenches, told CNN he was in a trench 4 kilometers from the city at about 11 a.m. when he heard the first shots.
“I started crawling into the ditch to escape. But it seemed that the attackers were following the trenches. So, I crawled out and came across the first victim covered in blood. There was blood everywhere on my path. There were screams everywhere. I hid on my stomach under a bush till noon,” he said.
Another survivor, who lost two of her family members in the attack, said JNIM killed people “all day long”.
He said, “For three days we were collecting bodies scattered everywhere. Fear took hold in our hearts. At the time of burial, there were so many bodies lying on the ground that it was difficult to bury.”
The army reportedly ordered locals to dig a huge ditch around the town to protect it from jihadists roaming nearby.
JNIM has warned citizens against supporting the army in the fight against insurgency.
According to the ACLED analysis group, which tracks global conflict, affiliates of al-Qaeda – which was founded by Osama bin Laden and carried out the 9/11 attacks on the US – and the Islamic State group have killed nearly 3,800 people this year. Has been killed.
Since the beginning of the conflict in 2015, more than 20,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced in Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries located in the Sahel, a region plagued by instability.
(with agency input)
