An armed attack by unidentified individuals night Friday in the village of Solhan , in the region of Sahel in Burkina Faso , has brought about a hundred civilians killed , according to military sources, to what the government has decreed a duel 72 hours.
Government sources explained that the objective of the attack, which has not been claimed but is part of the rise of jihadist groups in the area, was aimed at a paramilitary body created by the Burkinabe government to combat, precisely, the increase in activity. jihadist crime – Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland (VDP) -. The country’s president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, confirmed the massacre through his Twitter account.
Dans the night from 04 to 05 June, of the armies individuals attacked the village SOLHAN in the commune of Sebba in the Sahel region.
Je m’incline devant la mémoire de la centaine de civils tués dans cette attaque barbare et adresse month condoléances aux familles des victimes 1/2
– Roch KABORE (@rochkaborepf) June 5, 2021
The Burkinabe president called the events a ” barbaric attack.” ” The defense and security forces are on the ground to find and neutralize the perpetrators of this ignoble act. We must remain united and cohesive against these forces of evil,” added Kaboré on the social network.
The forces of defense and security are at the foot of the law, to rechercher and neutralize the auteurs of the ignoble act.
– Roch KABORE (@rochkaborepf) June 5, 2021
According to an interim report from a police detachment in the Sebba commune, on the border with Niger , the attackers particularly targeted the civilian population by entering homes, murdering those they encountered and setting them on fire. They also destroyed the Solhan market with great violence, so it is not ruled out that the death toll increases as the hours go by.
A country kidnapped by jihadism
Burkina Faso has suffered jihadist attacks since April 2015, when members of an al-Qaeda-affiliated group kidnapped a Romanian security guard at a manganese mine in Tambao, in the north of the country, which is still missing. Two groups, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM, according to its Arabic acronym) and the Islamic State of the Greater Sahara (EIGS) are vying for control of the region. They are joined by the local Burkinabe group Ansarul Islam.
The region most affected by insecurity is the Sahel, located in the north and which shares a border with Mali and Niger, although insecurity has been spreading to neighboring provinces, and since the summer of 2018 it also affects the east of the country.
As a result of the violence, Burkina Faso is experiencing the world’s fastest growing displacement crisis , with more than a million people leaving their homes (more than one for every 20 inhabitants) trying to survive the deadly attacks. The jihadist phenomenon that hits Burkina Faso also extends to neighboring Mali and Niger.