The Human Rights Watch alleges that over 220 civilians, including at least 56 children, were massacred by Burkina Faso’s military on February 25.
The human rights body claimed in its report that the army killed 179 people in Soro village and 44 others in the nearby Nondin village in what it describes as “among the worst army abuse” incidents in the country in almost a decade.
It said it spoke to survivors who narrated how a military convoy with more than 100 soldiers attacked Nondin village. The soldiers went door-to-door, ejecting residents from their homes.”They then rounded up villagers in groups before opening fire on them,” it added, citing survivor accounts.
They then travelled about 5km to Soro and rounded up villagers before executing them, said the survivors. Witnesses also say the soldiers shot at those who tried to hide or escape.
According to reports, the military killed the villagers as retaliation for their alleged support for Islamist militants. A survivor was quoted as saying” that before the shootings, the soldiers accused the residents of failing to cooperate with them by not informing them of the movements of the Islamist fighters”.
“The massacres in Nondin and Soro villages are just the latest mass killings of civilians by the Burkina Faso military in their counterinsurgency operations,” said Tirana Hassan, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch.
The country is ruled by a military junta, which took power in a coup in 2022, promising to end the rebellion. However, there’s been an escalation in hostilities with more than a quarter of the country under the control of terrorists.