MIL OSI Translation. Region: Italy –
Source: The Holy See in Italian
Ouagadougou (Agenzia Fides) – Jihadist groups continue to sow death in Burkina Faso. After the massacre in the village of Barsalogho on August 24 in which at least 200 people died, in an attack on a group of volunteers for the defense of the homeland, which took place on August 30, in Barga, in the north of the country, at least 13 people died. On the same day, armed men carried out an incursion in Yondé, in the central-eastern region, causing about ten deaths. Finally, extensive material damage was reported following the attack on August 31 against a defense and security forces base in the village of Bam, in the central-northern region. In both cases, the jihadists hit local self-defense groups. In Barsalogho (in the center-north) the jihadists of the JNIM (Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims) struck while the population was digging defensive trenches on the orders of the army. Some reports say that 200 people were killed, although the surviving inhabitants reported that at least 400 people were killed. According to the testimonies of the survivors, a military detachment had forced the villagers to build the trench “against their will”, exposing them to retaliation by the jihadists of the JNIM. The latter claimed responsibility for the massacre with a video, in which the bodies of the civilian victims can be seen, with only digging tools next to them but no weapons. The civilians would therefore have been forcibly recruited by the army and sent to dig defensive trenches a few kilometers from their village, without any military protection. The attack lasted from 9 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon and the jihadists, after massacring the men who were digging the trenches, attacked the village, killing women, children and the elderly. After the Angelus on Sunday 1 September, Pope Francis expressed his sorrow for the massacre of Barsalogho: “It is with sorrow that I learned that on Saturday 24 August, in the municipality of Barsalogho, in Burkina Faso, hundreds of people, including women and children, were killed and many others injured in a terrorist attack. In condemning these execrable attacks against human life, I express my closeness to the entire nation and my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. May the Virgin Mary help the beloved people of Burkina Faso to find peace and security”. The JNIM, affiliated with Al Quida, is expanding rapidly throughout the Sahel. It operates in Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, and is expanding to the border areas of Benin, Togo and Ghana. In the latter country, the border guard has raised the alarm for possible jihadist attacks in the border areas with Burkina Faso. In addition to the government forces of the countries involved, JNIM clashes with the other main jihadist group operating in the region, the Islamic State branch in the Sahel. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are countries in which they took power with coups by military juntas, which after having chased out Western contingents, receive military aid from Russia and (something that is less emphasized by the European press) Turkey. In a message posted on social media in mid-August by Othman al-Ansari, considered the number 2 of JNIM, the jihadist group called on the Muslim populations of the three countries to overcome ethnic and tribal divisions, to unite in a jihad against the military juntas and their Russian and Turkish allies, citing the private military companies Wagner (Russian) and Sadat (Turkish). (LM) (Agenzia Fides 3/9/2024) Share:
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is a translation. Apologies should the grammar and/or sentence structure not be perfect.
