Hundreds of civilians have been slaughtered in a devastating Islamist attack on a town in Burkina Faso.
Townsfolk in Barsalogho, which is less than 100 miles from the capital of Ouagadougou, were digging defensive trenches – to aid the country’s beleaguered security forces – when they came under attack from a heavily armed, Al-Qaeda linked group. Eyewitnesses later reported seeing bodies strewn around the trenches – alongside the shovels they were using. Reports suggest between 200 and 400 people were killed, and many more injured.
The attack is the latest chapter in the Jihadist violence that has engulfed the landlocked west African country in recent years. Barsalogho, in the centre-north region, was the home of at least 90,000 displaced people (most of them Christians) who had already fled from Jihadist attacks further north. UK-based Release International has been supporting Christians in Burkina Faso who have suffered.
