Several dozen Muslim worshipers were killed in a “major attack” on a mosque in eastern Burkina Faso on Sunday, the same day there was another deadly attack on Catholics gathered in a church, security and local sources told AFP.
“Armed individuals attacked a mosque in Natiaboani at around 5:00 a.m. (local time and GMT) on Sunday, leaving several dozen dead,” a security source told AFP.
“The victims were all Muslims, mostly men, who had gathered in the mosque” to pray, said a resident interviewed by telephone.
Another local source explained: “The terrorists entered the city early in the morning. They surrounded the mosque and shot at the worshipers who were there for the first prayer of the day. Several of them were shot, including an important religious leader.
“The elements of the Military Department and the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP, Civilian Auxiliary Forces of the Army) were also attacked by these hordes, which arrived in large numbers,” stated the same source, referring to an “attack of large scale.” given the number of attackers who also caused significant property damage.
Natiaboani is a rural municipality located approximately sixty kilometers south of Fada N'Gourma, the capital of the Eastern Region. This region has been regularly targeted by armed groups since 2018.
Catholics, Muslims and soldiers targeted
On the same day as this attack on the mosque, at least fifteen worshipers were killed and two injured by suspected jihadists during a mass in a Catholic church in northern Burkina, according to the vicar general of the Dori diocese, Father Jean-Pierre Sawadogo.
On Monday, Pope Francis responded to this violence.
According to a telegram signed by the Holy See's Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope “learned with deep sadness of the tragic terrorist attack that occurred in a Catholic church in Essakane.”
He expressed “his sadness” to the families, but also “his sadness to the Muslim community over the attack on a mosque in Natiaboani,” adding that “hatred is not the solution to conflict.”
There were also several other attacks on Sunday, notably against the military detachment of Tankoualou (east), the 16th Rapid Intervention Battalion (Bir) near Kongoussi (north) and the mixed battalion in the Ouahigouya area (north).
“The response of the elements to these various attacks, supported by air vectors,” made it possible to “neutralize several hundred terrorists,” according to security sources.
In the past, mosques and imams have been the target of attacks attributed to jihadists.
In August 2021, the Grand Imam of Djibo and President of the Muslim community of this important northern city, Souaibou Cissé, was found dead three days after he was kidnapped by a group of armed people who intercepted the bus in which he was traveling.
These attacks have sometimes targeted churches in Burkina, where kidnappings of Christian clergy have also increased. In January 2021, the lifeless body of a priest, Father Rodrigue Sanon, priest of the Notre-Dame parish in Soubaganyedougou, was found in a forest in southwestern Burkina two days after his disappearance.
In March 2019, the priest was kidnapped from Djibo on the Botogui-Djibo axis and is still missing. A year earlier, on February 15, 2018, Father César Fernandez, a Spanish missionary, was killed in central Burkina.
Burkina Faso, led by soldiers who violently seized power in 2022, has faced jihadist violence since 2015 attributed to armed movements linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, leaving nearly 20,000 dead and more than two million for displaced people.