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Tragedy in Djibo: UN Reports Over 40 Civilians Killed in Brutal Burkina Faso Jihadist Attack
The United Nations Human Rights Office reported on Tuesday that a jihadist attack in the northern Burkina Faso town of Djibo over the weekend claimed the lives of at least forty civilians.
Since 2015, Burkina Faso has been engulfed in a spiral of jihadist violence carried out by militants associated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, who are also wreaking havoc in neighboring Mali and Niger.
According to a statement from the United Nations agency, "at least forty civilians were killed and over forty-two were injured when a large number of Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) fighters stormed a military base, residences, and camps for internally displaced persons in the Sahel region city of Djibo."
The agency decried the assaults against civilians as "inexcusable and must cease," emphasizing that perpetrators must be apprehended and tried in a fair and impartial court of law. The report categorizes the attack as a "war crime," defined as the intentional targeting of civilians.
For months, jihadist organizations active in the region have besieged Djibo, which is situated near the border between Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. Several convoys attempting to resupply the town have been ambushed.
According to Burkinabe security force sources speaking to AFP, jihadists stormed an army post in Djibo on Sunday, with the army credited for eliminating dozens of assailants. While sources mentioned slain soldiers, civilian casualties were not explicitly mentioned.
The Djibo army post was the "target of a significant jihadist attack carried out by armed terrorist organizations," according to a security source speaking to AFP. An indeterminate number of soldiers "made the supreme sacrifice in order to retain control of Djibo."
The army had suffered "heavy losses on the enemy," according to the source.
A second security source reported that the number of assailants approached the hundreds and were repulsed when the army requested air support. The assault, involving waves of assailants on pickup vehicles and motorcycles, lasted for over three hours. The source added that dozens of jihadist combatants were "neutralized."
The official news agency of Burkina Faso, AIB, reported that "during the counteroffensive of the Burkinabe Armed Forces against nearly 3,000 criminals who attempted to seize the town of Djibo, more than 400 terrorists (were) killed." AIB further stated that the "horde of terrorists" had intended to "sow destruction and death in Djibo prior to seizing control of the city."
The Sahel region encircling the city has experienced some of the most violent exchanges and is one of the most devastated areas in Burkina Faso.
Since September of last year, a military junta commanded by Ibrahim Traore, overseeing the country's second putsch in the past eight months, has been in power. The military authorities have designated the conflict with the fundamentalist factions, which command an estimated 40 percent of the nation, as their foremost concern.
Over the last eight years, the country has been engulfed in an intensifying spiral of violence that has also affected neighboring Mali and Niger, both of which have witnessed their own military coups within the last three years.
Violence in Burkina Faso has displaced over two million people and claimed the lives of over seventeen thousand, including soldiers and civilians; according to the NGO ACLED, which compiles real-time data on reported political violence, approximately six thousand have been slain so far this year.