IN a harrowing account of one of the deadliest attacks in Burkina Faso’s decade-long insurgency, survivors have described the horror of a massacre that claimed over 300 lives. The attack, which took place near the town of Barsalogho in central Burkina Faso, has sent shockwaves through the region and highlighted the ongoing threat posed by jihadist groups in the Sahel.
According to Reuters, a 38-year-old woman who survived the attack recounted the grim task of searching for her brothers’ bodies among piles of victims. “We went out with carts to collect the bodies of my older brothers,” she told an aid worker in Kaya, a nearby town where many survivors have fled. “We spent a long time going through bodies piled up under trees.”
The massacre occurred on a Saturday morning when militants, described by survivors as “bushmen,” opened fire on civilians who had been ordered by the military to dig defensive trenches around the town. The attack continued until drones appeared overhead later in the day.
Al Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin has claimed responsibility for the attack, stating they targeted soldiers and militia members. However, survivors and video evidence suggest that many victims were civilians.
The scale of the tragedy is immense, with one family reportedly losing 30 members and another family of 13 being completely wiped out. Survivors spent three days collecting bodies, with women and children making up the majority of those left to perform this grim task.
“I am no longer sure that I am normal,” the survivor told Reuters. “You know why? Because I saw horrible things, dead bodies and blood everywhere. I have not been sleeping well since I was displaced here.”
The attack has drawn widespread condemnation, including from the United Nations and European Union. It has also raised questions about the Burkinabe government’s strategy of relying on civilian volunteers to combat the insurgency.
A civil society group, Collectif Justice pour Barsalogho, has criticized the government’s response, stating that officials seemed more concerned with the army than civilian survivors. The group accused the military of sending citizens to their deaths by forcing them to dig trenches that became mass graves.
This massacre is part of a broader pattern of violence in the Sahel region. According to the non-governmental organization Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, over 6,500 civilians have been killed in Burkina Faso since the start of 2020.
As the region grapples with the aftermath of this tragedy, the voices of survivors serve as a stark reminder of the human cost of the ongoing conflict in the Sahel.
