2024 Barsalogho attack

2024 Barsalogho attack
Part of Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso
Location of Barsalogho Department in Sanmatenga Province, Burkina Faso
Location	Barsalogho, Barsalogho Department, Burkina Faso
Coordinates	13°24′54″N 1°3′23″W
Date	24 August 2024
Target	Burkinabè soldiers and civilians
Attack type	Gunfire
Deaths	400–500+
Injured	300+
Perpetrator	Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin

An attack on 24 August 2024 by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) militants, an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist organization, killed hundreds of soldiers of the Burkina Faso Armed Forces, as well as civilians who were digging defensive trenches in the Barsalogho Department of northern Burkina Faso. The attack is part of an ongoing jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso and the Sahel.

Background

Since August 2015, a civil conflict between the Government of Burkina Faso and Islamist rebels has killed at least 10,000 civilians and combatants and displaced more than 2 million people. Almost half of Burkina Faso's territory is in the hands of al-Qaeda-linked militants. The war is part of the wider insurgency in the Sahel.

In August 2024, jihadists began to close in on the Barsalogho Department city of Kaya, which represented the last defensive line between the militants and Burkina Faso's capital of Ouagadougou. In anticipation of an attack, the Burkina Faso Armed Forces recruited nearby residents to dig defensive trenches around the town of Barsalogho, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the north of Kaya.

Incident

On 24 August 2024, from 09:00 to 16:00, a group of JNIM militants opened fire on soldiers and townspeople who were digging defensive trenches for the army and the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP). Several dozen people were killed, while many wounded people were taken to a hospital in Kaya. Most of the victims were young residents of the town who helped soldiers dig trenches. Local officials and members of the VDP—a civilian armed group that supports the Burkinabe military—were also among the casualties. The attackers captured several weapons and an ambulance used by the Burkinabe military. On 27 August, sources told Reuters that the attack had likely killed at least 400 or 500 people. Burkinabe soldiers, auxiliaries, and air support responded to the attack, reportedly killing several militants and limiting further Burkinabe casualties.

After the attack, JNIM released several videos of the bodies of those killed. The group's leader, Iyad Ag Ghaly, claimed that it had taken control of a militia headquarters in Barsalogho. The JNIM killed people in the trenches where they were digging in an effort to turn them into mass graves, and claimed that the army ordered civilians to dig military trenches in an apparent act of desperation to counter the jihadists' advances.