"Everywhere, they were killing people": jihadists sow desolation in northern Burkina
A Burkinabe soldier patrols in Dori, February 3, 2020. (illustrative image) AFP - OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In recent days, jihadist attacks have increased in the north and east of Burkina Faso.
The deadliest is the one that hit the locality of Seytenga, near the Niger border, Thursday, June 9.
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The gunmen
attacked on the night of June 11-12
.
After an attack on the gendarmerie brigade last Thursday, the security forces had left the scene, after a search by the armed forces.
It was after their departure that the armed men, who arrived on motorbikes, burst into the locality of Seytenga to attack the population, massacring many civilians.
“
I was outside my door when they arrived.
I looked for my son and I found a lot of dead people on the ground.
I heard gunshots
, ”says a local resident at the microphone of the
RFI Fulfulde
correspondent in Dori.
“
I looked at the market, at the mosque and at the bank... I was finally able to reach my son and we returned together.
At that time, the jihadists were convoying herds of cows, goats and sheep.
We saw them, they took everything with them
,” adds the woman.
"Someone who is afraid, he does not stop to count
"
They also sowed death on their way: “
They passed by the market, by the tarmac road, everywhere they were killing people.
Everywhere in the street, there are only dead people.
They spent the whole night here and left the next day.
They killed one of my little brothers
, ”says the resident.
According to her, “
they left with women.
There were my two cousins carrying their children on their backs.
They brought them in asking them questions.
They tortured them before releasing them
”.
Fear had already gripped the town since the gendarmerie attack, so many civilians had begun to flee towards Dori, nearly 50 km to the west.
Some feared a punitive expedition.
“
They started by coming and entering my house.
Me, I told my wife that if they asked her where I was, to say that I had been away on a trip for 4, 6 or 7 months.
They smashed everything in the area: the shops, the pharmacy, the school, the hospital... There were a lot of deaths, but I don't know how many, because someone who is afraid, he doesn't don't stop to count
," says one resident.
Several hundred displaced
The government announced on Monday June 13 that around fifty bodies had been found, in addition to the 11 gendarmes killed.
But
“research is continuing
,” said government spokesman Lionel Bilgo at a press conference, thus suggesting that the toll could increase.
Although the attack displaced many people, several people returned to the village.
"
The army therefore asks all the populations to collaborate and allow them to make a count in order to deliver a definitive assessment of this despicable attack
", declared the spokesperson, asking the inhabitants to report if one of their relatives has was killed by these armed men.
For its part, civil society and the local authorities of Dori have promised to take care of the displaced.
There is no official count, but the estimate of several hundred people, mainly women and children, is mentioned.
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Burkina Faso