Al-Qaeda Attack Kills 600 Civilians in Burkina Faso’s Barsalogho
In one of the deadliest massacres in Burkina Faso’s history, around 600 civilians were killed in an attack carried out by members affiliated with Al-Qaeda in the town of Barsalogho on August 24.
According to multiple sources, including a French government security assessment, the attackers targeted residents as they dug protective trenches around the town.
The brutal raid, which claimed the lives of mostly women and children, occurred in the span of just a few hours. Survivors reported that the militants, members of Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda affiliate based in Mali, stormed the outskirts of Barsalogho on motorbikes, opening fire on the villagers.
The United Nations estimated the death toll to be around 200, but JNIM itself claimed that nearly 300 people were killed, while French sources suggest the number could be as high as 600. The tragic incident underscores the increasing violence and instability faced by Burkina Faso as it grapples with the spillover of jihadist insurgency from neighboring Mali, which began in 2015.
Survivors Describe the Horrors
One survivor recounted to CNN how he narrowly escaped death after hearing the first gunshots while digging trenches about 4 kilometers from the town. “I started to crawl into the trench to escape. But it seemed that the attackers were following the trenches. So, I crawled out and came across the first bloodied victim. There was blood everywhere on my way. There was screaming everywhere,” he recalled.
Another survivor, who lost two family members in the attack, described the scene as horrific, with bodies scattered across the area. “For three days, we were collecting bodies – scattered everywhere. Fear got into our hearts. At the burial time, there were so many bodies lying on the ground that burying was hard,” she said.
Ongoing Conflict in the Sahel Region
Since the conflict began in 2015, more than 20,000 people have been killed and over two million displaced in Burkina Faso. The attack on Barsalogho highlights the escalating threat from jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, who have killed approximately 3,800 people in the country this year alone, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).
The worsening security situation has made Burkina Faso one of the most unstable countries in the Sahel region, leaving communities vulnerable to frequent attacks and further complicating humanitarian efforts.
