Four people were killed in an attack on a church in northern Burkina Faso on Sunday 26 May, in the fourth deadly assault by Islamist militants on Christians in the region in four weeks.
A heavily armed gang attacked in the town of Toulfe, 240 km north-west of the capital Ouagadougou, while the congregation worshipped.
Local sources said the attack “caused panic in the village and many residents sought cover in their homes or in the bush”.
The latest attack brings the total death toll to 20. The militants’ murderous rampage began on 28 April in Silgadji, when gunmen rounded up the pastor, the pastor’s son and four of the congregation and demanded they deny their Christian faith and convert to Islam. When they refused, they were taken one-by-one behind a building where they were executed.
On 12 May, a gang of between 20 to 30 terrorists stormed into a Sunday service at a church in Dablo where they herded together the pastor and five church leaders and shot them in cold blood. The terrorists then set fire to the church, burning its pews, the pulpit and a cross, before torching a shop in the town and looting a health centre. The next day militants shot and killed four people who were in prominent positions in a church parade in Zimtenga.
