The UN is “angry” at the deaths in the Burkina Faso bombing Burkina Faso News

Army men have killed at least 132 people in northern Burkina Faso territory, the government said, with the head of the United Nations condemning the “brutal attack” and urging countries to step up their fight against “extreme violence”.

The attackers struck on Friday night and killed residents of the village of Solhan in Yagha province, which borders Niger. They also burned houses and the village market, according to a document issued by the government on Saturday.

Among the victims were seven children.

Another 40 residents were also injured, government spokesman Ousseni Tamboura told reporters.

President Roch Marc Christian Kabore called the killings “savagery” and said the Burkinabes “must unite and stand firm against these dark forces.”

So far he has not assumed a team.

The night attack was the deadliest recorded in Burkina Faso in years.

Since 2015, the West African country has been fighting Al-Qaeda-linked groups and more recently with more and more deadly and deadly attacks on ISIL (ISIS). The attacks began in the north near the border with Mali, but have since spread to other regions, particularly the east, causing one of the world’s most serious humanitarian crises.

In Burkina Faso, about 1.2 million people have been forced to flee their homes due to the long-running conflict, as armed groups escalate attacks on the army and civilians despite the presence of thousands of French soldiers and other international and regional forces across the Sahel. .

“Unacceptable human toll”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Burkina Faso’s killings were “outrageous” and offered the country “full support” from the world body.

Guterres “strongly denounces the brutal attack and stresses the urgency of the international community to double support for member states in the fight against extreme violence and its unacceptable human toll,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Burkina Faso has now declared 72 hours of mourning in the country.

In Solhan, a local source told AFP that the attackers were stuck at 02:00 (02:00 GMT) against the position of the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), backed by the national army.

They then attacked homes and carried out “executions,” the source said.

The VDP was set up in December 2019 to support a poorly equipped military fight against armed groups in Burkina Faso, but has claimed more than 200 lives, according to AFP. Volunteers are only given two weeks of military training to work with security forces. They usually do surveillance, information gathering or escort work.

Corrine Dufka, West Africa’s director of Human Rights Watch, said Solhan’s attack has followed a well-known pattern seen elsewhere in the Sahel this year.

“It’s dynamic [armed groups] enter, they dominate the civil defense position and carry out collective punishment against the rest of the people, “Dufka said.” It’s a model we’ve seen everywhere this year. “

For example, in neighboring Niger, armed attackers killed 137 people in March when analysts and rights groups said they could seek revenge for killings by local self-defense groups or arrests of people who may have been members of armed groups.

Dufka said Friday’s attacks since January have pushed armed groups in the Sahel region to more than 500 dead. Most of the killings were committed by Islamic State fighters in the Sahara, he added.

More attacks are likely

The attack in Solhan, by Defense Minister Cheriff Sy and other military personnel, visited the nearby village of Sebba and took weeks to ensure that people returned to normalcy after several military operations in the area, according to Nicolas Jake’s Al Jazeera.

“There was also a military barracks not far from where the attack took place,” Haque said. “But they didn’t react. They never got to the scene. It’s a feeling shared by people across the Sahel that they can’t trust the security forces to protect them. “

As the security situation worsens, analysts have said it is likely that more violent attacks will occur in Burkina Faso and surrounding countries.

“It’s a horrible massacre. And I’m afraid we’ll have to expect more similar types of reports,” said Alex Vines, director of the Chatham House International Reflection Program.

“It’s a focus. This is the three border areas of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, where a great deal of displacement and violence is taking place … Governments are becoming weaker and more effective. And they don’t provide the security that populations need. So the armed groups … are filling those gaps. “

The vineyards have told Al Jazeera that it is concerned about the rise in violence in the Sahel in other West African countries.

“It’s very serious and it’s spreading at the regional level. This is not just the Sahel, “he said.” There have been too many security incidents now in the coastal countries of the Gulf of Guinea. So think Benin, think Togo. Ghanaians are particularly concerned about what is happening on their border with Burkina Faso. Ivory Coast too. it is becoming an international problem. “