Dozens of children, elderly brutally massacred in Burkina Faso

A group of local defence force fighters drive their motorbikes during an event to inaugurate a new chapter of the group in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. (Photo/AP)

Assailants in northern Burkina Faso killed about 70 people, most of them children and the elderly, in a village massacre earlier this month that remains under investigation, authorities have said.

Prosecutor Simon B. Gnanou said on Monday that the attack took place in the village of Zaongo, located around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the city of Boulsa.

“At the current stage of our findings and the testimonies collected, the perpetrators of these atrocities remain unknown for the moment,” Gnanou said in a news release.

The West African nation has been grappling with a militant insurgency linked to al Qaida and Daesh terror groups for years. Thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million internally displaced.

On Sunday, the European Union placed the death toll from the village massacre at nearly 100. Investigators were meeting with families of the victims and expected to then update the provisional death toll of 70 people, Gnanou said.

It took two days for local law enforcement to alert others of the attack and four more days before a team of investigators could reach the scene where they found dozens of homes burned, he said. An attack on the convoy of investigators also had to be repelled at one point, he added.

“In these painful circumstances, my prosecution presents its most saddened condolences to the grieving families and its wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured,” Gnanou said.

Thousands of volunteer fighters

The militant violence in Burkina Faso has led to two coups, with the current junta seizing power in September 2022. The junta, led by Capt. Ibrahim Traore, has been accused by rights groups of committing abuses against civilians and cracking down on civil liberties in the name of securing the country.

Earlier this month the junta enacted an emergency law against perceived dissidents to expand its crackdown, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. The junta notified at least a dozen journalists, civil society activists and opposition members that they would be conscripted to participate in government security operations across the country, the report said.

In its attempt to stem the militant threat, the government has enlisted tens of thousands of volunteer fighters, but civilians say the volunteers indiscriminately kill people suspected of working with the militants. Many communities say they are more afraid of the volunteers than the extremists.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, last week, Molly Phee, head of African affairs at the US State Department, said she was “shocked and saddened” by the news of the killings in Zaongo and urged authorities to investigate and hold those responsible to account.

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Source: TRT