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Gunmen killed nearly 100 civilians in an attack on a village in northern Burkina Faso, the latest incident in years of relentless violence that has killed the landlocked West African country, leaving thousands dead and displacing more of a million.
The government described the gunmen as terrorists and said they had attacked Solhan, which is near the border with Niger, on Friday night, burning houses and the local market.
“Defense and security forces are working to find and neutralize the perpetrators of this despicable act,” President Roch Kabore said. “We must remain united and united against these forces of evil.”
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but local groups affiliated with Isis and al-Qaeda have stepped up attacks in the region since the beginning of the year.
Last year, violence in Burkina Faso plummeted due to an unofficial ceasefire ahead of the November elections. But analysts have said the truce has worn off since then.
The attack comes a month after at least 30 people were killed by gunmen in nearby Kolydel. The border region where Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are located has become a place of extremist activity and the focus of the anti-terrorist effort in the Sahel led by the French operation Barkhane, of 5,000 troops.
France intervened in the region in 2013 to crush a jihadist insurgency that had taken northern Mali. Despite the United Nations peacekeeping mission with 13,000 troops, and thousands of French and domestic soldiers, the violence has spread to central Mali and spread to Niger and Burkina Faso, which has seen a hasty rush, with wide strips out of government control.
In addition to violence, the region is experiencing a period of severe political instability, which could affect the fight against jihadism. This week France suspended its joint operations with the Mali army after its second time in less than a year.
In April, another key ally of the struggle, Chad, who is believed to be the most experienced and effective soldiers in the region, suffered a severe blow when his strong leader Idriss Deby he was killed by the rebels.
The military quickly installed his son as interim president, but questions remain about how strong an ally in Chad will be among the top ranks of the military.
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