OUAGADOUGOU,
Burkina Faso
An al Qaeda-linked group said it killed nearly 300 people in Saturday’s devastating attack in north-central Burkina Faso, but said it targeted militia members linked to the army, not civilians, the U.S. consultancy Site Intelligence Group reported.
The attack outside the town of
Barsalogho was one of the deadliest in nearly a decade of Islamist violence in
the West African country. A group of victims’ relatives said at least 400 were
killed when jihadists opened fire on civilians digging defensive trenches on
orders of the military.
Al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a
Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin said soldiers and militia members were
excavating the trenches when it attacked.
“Those who were eliminated in
this attack are nothing but militias affiliated with the Burkinabe army … not
as they lied and said that they were civilians,” JNIM said in a communique
translated by Site on Thursday.
Several videos apparently
filmed by the militants and released on social media showed dozens of bodies in
trenches, most of them in civilian clothing.
The bloodshed highlights the
danger of the authorities’ growing reliance on civilians as they struggle to
combat jihadist groups that have destabilised swathes of the Sahel region since
an insurgency took root in neighbouring Mali in 2012.
“Civilians are playing a
significant role in the conflict,” said Ryan Cummings, director of analysis at
Africa-focused risk-management company Signal Risk, referring to their
recruitment into militia or in fortifying towns, as they appear to have been doing
in Barsalogho.
“But civilians that are
assisting the military are seen as collaborators. This has made them targets of
attacks,” he said.
Burkina Faso’s ruling junta
has not said how many people were killed, but said civilians, soldiers and
volunteer army auxiliaries known as VDPs were among the victims.
State television reported that
the attackers struck while Barsalogho locals were engaged in unspecified
community work.
On Wednesday, citizen advocacy
group Collectif Justice pour Barsalogho said the authorities were negligent for
using the military to force the community to build trenches, “which turned out
to be mass graves.”
“Our parents were led to the
slaughter,” it said in a statement.
Frustrations over worsening violence led to two coups in Burkina Faso in 2022, but the new authorities have failed to stem the bloodshed. Over 6,500 civilians have been killed since the start of 2020, the nongovernmental organisation Armed Conflict Location and Event Data showed in July. More than half died under the current government.
No comments:
Post a Comment