At least ten gunmen stormed a Protestant church on Sunday in the West African nation of Burkina Faso, killing 14 people. The attack occurred during the church service when the worshippers were most vulnerable.
Agence France-Presse quotes a source saying that approximately 10 “heavily armed individuals” carried out the attack in the village near the border with Niger, “executing the faithful including the pastor and children.”
According to The Associated Press, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore condemned “the barbaric attack” on Twitter Sunday, and offered his “deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded.”
Soldiers are pursuing the terrorists who escaped on scooters. Though the identity of the attackers is not yet known, security forces there told the AFP that the church is located in an area where places of worship have already suffered attacks by Islamists, and since February the number of attacks against Christian targets has accelerated.
Burkina Faso’s population is around two-thirds Muslim and one-third Christian, but according to the AP, the two religions have coexisted peaceably there over the years. In 2015, all that began to change with a rise in Islamic extremism that destroyed the peace and frequently led to attacks on Christians.
Last May, CBN News reported that five Christians, including their pastor, were murdered by Islamic terrorists in another church in Burkina Faso.
Then in June, at least 19 Christians were killed in an attack on the village of Arbinda in the northern part of Burkina Faso.
According to Barnabas Fund sources, the number of those killed may be as high as 29 as 10 more people were reportedly murdered in the nearby Namentenga province the next day.
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