Thousands flee after massacre in northern Burkina Faso
More than 7,000 families have fled their homes in Burkina Faso’s northern region following the area’s worst massacre in years, the government has said.
The mass flight came after gunmen killed at least 138 people and wounded dozens of others in an attack on Solhan village in Yagha province on Friday.
“Steps have already been taken to give displaced people a minimum level of comfort, lodgings and food”, Prime Minister Christophe Dabire said on Tuesday.
“More than 7,000 families have moved to Sebba” the capital of Yagha, about 15km (10 miles) from Solhan, he added.
Burkinabe Communications Minister Ousseni Tamboura said the village “has been completely emptied of people”. One local elected official said most of those who left Solhan had already been fleeing armed group violence, including in the Mansila district to the west.
“They killed so many people without even separating the women and children”, Mannou Tambanga, a Solhan resident said. “They killed, they burned all the goods they saw. They ransacked”, he added.
The Prime Minister said the attack would not go unpunished, adding that extra forces had already been deployed in the region.
The slaughter in Solhan followed the killing of 14 people in the village of Tadaryat, in the same region where an armed group linked to Al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) had been targeting civilians and soldiers.
