News

Burkina Faso: Children among six killed as bomb explodes on road in predominantly Christian area

August 16, 2020

Persecution of Christians in Burkina Faso: the Islamic insurgency that has victimized numerous Christians in neighboring countries is now spreading to Burkina Faso. As noted below: “Violence by Islamist extremists has surged in Burkina Faso in the past year, causing thousands to flee their homes. In May, Christians were among those targeted and killed when armed jihadists launched three separate attacks within 48 hours that left at least 58 dead.”

Christians make up about 30% of the nation’s population, yet also like the persecution of Christians in neighboring countries, their persecution is escalating, and continues to be largely ignored by the international media and human rights operations.

Please continue to pray for the victims, for a new determination among international authorities to take definitive action to end this persecution, and for the persecutors to soften their hearts and turn to Orthodox Christianity.

For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Burkina Faso, see here.

“Children among six killed as bomb explodes on road in northern Burkina Faso,” Barnabas Fund, August 2, 2020:

At least six people, mostly children, were killed and four others injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated on a road in mainly-Christian northern Burkina Faso on 1 August….

A pastor, his son and four members of his congregation were shot dead in Silgadji in April 2019. The vicious execution-style murders foreshadowed a sharp increase in jihadi attacks on Christians in Burkina Faso

Violence by Islamist extremists has surged in Burkina Faso in the past year, causing thousands to flee their homes. In May, Christians were among those targeted and killed when armed jihadists launched three separate attacks within 48 hours that left at least 58 dead.

The increase in vicious attacks targeting Christians began in April 2019 in the northern town of Silgadji when a pastor, his son and four members of his congregation were shot in cold blood for refusing to convert to Islam. Jihadists returned to the town in January 2020, killing at least ten Christian men the village marketplace.