Ouagadougou,
BURKINA FASO
The
president of the West African nation of Burkina Faso has
confirmed that 14 people were killed in an attack on a Protestant church during
Sunday services in the country's east.
President Roch Marc Christian
Kabore said on Twitter that he condemned "the barbaric attack" in the
town of Hantoukoura. He said several people were also wounded.
Kabore offered his "deepest condolences to the
bereaved families" and wished "a speedy recovery to the
wounded."
The identity of the gunmen was not immediately
clear and further details on the attack had yet to emerge. Burkinabe armed
forces were caring for the wounded and searching the area, the government said
in a statement.
Until 2015, the poor West African country was
largely spared the violence that hit Mali and then Niger,
its neighbours to the north.
But attackers - some linked to al-Qaeda, others to
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or
ISIS) group - began infiltrating the north, before moving east and towards
the southern and western borders.
The unrest has ignited ethnic and religious
tensions, rendering large parts of the country ungovernable.
The attack took place in the village of Hantoukoura
near the border with Niger in the Eastern Region, an area known for banditry
that has come under attack over the past year from groups with suspected links
to al-Qaeda and ISIL.
The timing of the latest incident, during hours of
worship, mirrored other attacks on Christians this year - a new phenomenon in a
West African country that has long prided itself on its religious tolerance.
Hundreds have been killed over the past year and
nearly a million forced from their homes.
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