Over 200 people killed by Burkina Faso military forces during attack on village

The military in Burkina Faso attacked two villages and killed 223 people, including babies and children. The villages were accused of helping militants. Human Rights Watch reported this on Thursday.

The mass murder happened in February. According to the report, 25 people in the northern villages of Nondin and Soro died, and 56 of them were children. The human rights group asked the United Nations and the African Union to send investigators and help the local community make sure the people who did wrong are punished.

The UN spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said that the UN has not confirmed the attack, but finds the reports very disturbing and will investigate them.

“The recent killings in Nondin and Soro villages show that the Burkina Faso military has been killing many civilians in their efforts to fight insurgents,” said Tirana Hassan, who is the head of Human Rights Watch. International help is very important in making sure that a fair investigation is done to find out if people have committed really serious crimes against others.

The country used to be peaceful, but now there is a lot of fighting between groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State, and the government’s forces. Both groups have hurt innocent people in the middle and made more than two million people leave their homes. Over half of them are kids. In a country with a strict government that silences anyone who disagrees with them, most attacks are not reported or punished.

The HRW report tells stories from people who survived attacks in Burkina Faso. There has been a lot of civilian deaths caused by the security forces, who are trying to fight against a growing jihadi group. They are attacking people and saying it’s part of their fight against terrorism.

In April, The Associated Press confirmed reports about a Nov. 5 soldiers from one village attacked another village and killed at least 70 people. The army said the villagers were helping the militants, so they killed them, including babies.

Witnesses and survivors explained to HRW that the February. 25 people were killed because of an attack on a military camp by Islamist fighters near the city of Ouahigouya.

More civilians died than local officials first said. A lawyer said they are looking into the deaths of 170 people in attacks on villages.

A spokesperson for the government of Burkina Faso did not reply when asked for a comment about the February incident. 25 people were attacked. Authorities had said they didn’t kill innocent people and mentioned that fighters who support jihadi often pretend to be soldiers.

Over 20,000 people have been killed in Burkina Faso because of jihadi attacks by groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State. This has been happening for nine years. This information comes from a nonprofit group based in the United States.

In 2022, Burkina Faso had two times when the government was taken over by force. Ever since the military took control in September 2022, the group led by Captain. Ibrahim Traoré said he would stop the militants, but experts say that the violence has only gotten worse. Approximately half of Burkina Faso’s land is not controlled by the government.

Upset because they haven’t made much progress with Western military help, the military government has stopped working with France and is now getting help from Russia instead for their security.