At least 160 killed in village bust; Burkina Faso violence
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June 10th 2021
By: Norvisi Mawunyegah
Armed men killed at least 160 people in an attack on a village in northern Burkina Faso, the country’s worst attack in recent years, officials say.
Homes and the local market among other properties were set ablaze during the raid on Solhan in the early hours of Saturday morning. No militant group has owned up for the attack but Islamist assaults are increasingly common in the country, especially in border regions.
The UN chief said he was “outraged” by the incident. António Guterres “strongly condemns the heinous attack and underscores the urgent need for the international community to redouble support to member states in the fight against violent extremism and its unacceptable human toll,” his spokesperson said.
On Sunday, a total of 160 bodies were recovered from what local officials in Solhan described as three mass graves.
“It’s the local people themselves who have started exhuming the bodies and burying them after transporting them,” they said. Fear of death toll may be on the rise as number of death toll is on the rise. The president described the acts as “barbaric “and said the security forces are working to find the culprits as he declared a state mourning of three days.
In another attack on Friday night, 14 people were reported to have been killed in the village of Tadaryat, about 150km (93 miles) to the north of Solhan. Last month, 30 people died in an attack in the east of Burkina Faso. The country is facing a deepening security crisis, like many of its neighbors, as armed groups carry out raids and kidnappings across much of the region.
