Burkina Faso: double attack near Seytenga, retaliation after attempted robbery

Locality of Seytenga in Burkina Faso. © RFI

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

The double attack that killed 44 people on the night of 6 to 7 April 2023 near Seytenga, in northern Burkina Faso, is due to reprisals after an attempted cattle theft gone wrong in the village of Kourakou.

Advertising

Read more

In Burkina Faso, the circumstances of the attack on the villages of Kourakou and Tondobi are now better known. On the night of 6 to 7 April 2023, these two localities in the commune of Seytenga, in the Sahel region, in the north of the country, were attacked by several armed men.

In a statement issued on 8 April, the governor of the Sahel region gave a death toll of 44. This attack came in retaliation for a robbery attempt gone wrong.

Retaliation

Forty-eight hours earlier, two armed men had attempted to steal cattle in the village of Kourakou. But they had met with resistance from the people. They retaliated, killing one of them.

Some residents described the two men as Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) fighters. But it is difficult to distinguish between things in this part of Burkina Faso where the interests of criminal networks coincide with those of armed men.

« Seytenga is surrounded »

For the time being, people are enjoying a calm, which they consider relative. According to local sources, the armed groups are located a few kilometers from Seytenga.

For several months, the terrorists have been asking the population to leave and have requisitioned entire villages. "Seytenga is surrounded," a member of civil society told RFI on April 10, referring to a real harassment of armed men. They attack in particular on the road, between Dori in the west and Tera, on the other side of the border in Niger.

Last June, the town of Seytenga itself fell victim to armed men; 86 people were killed.

► Read also Burkina Faso: at least 44 dead in a deadly double attack in the Sahel region

Newsletter Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

Read on on the same topics:

  • Burkina Faso
  • Criminality
  • Society
  • Agriculture and Fisheries
  • Terrorism