Terror in Burkina Faso

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September 20, 2024

Screenshot of a video filmed by fighters of the armed Islamist group JNIM showing their assault on the military barracks in Mansila, Sahel region, Burkina Faso, on June 16, 2024.

Armed Groups in Burkina Faso Terrorize Civilians

Islamist armed groups in Burkina Faso have escalated their attacks on civilians, massacring villagers, displaced people, and Christian worshipers. Since February, armed groups have killed at least 128 people in a surge of violence across the country.

Government forces have been fighting insurgencies by the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, JNIM) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), since the armed groups entered Burkina Faso from Mali in 2016.

From May to July this year, Human Rights Watch interviewed 37 people, including 31 witnesses to attacks on civilians and shared our findings with government officials in Burkina Faso.

At least 12 civilians were killed in one attack on a church in the village of Essakane in February. “I saw a huge pool of blood and traces of blood all over the church, as well as bullet marks on the benches,” said a 28-year-old man who lost his 49-year-old brother, a teacher, in the attack told us. The ISGS claimed responsibility for the attack.