A priest from Burkina Faso requested prayers after three new attacks in the country. Causing the deaths of several people and serious material damage, he said that “the attacks are increasing. We entrust ourselves to your fervent prayers. Pray for the victims and for the survivors who are terrified,” the priest, who preferred to remain anonymous.
These new attacks follow the massacre that occurred in early October in the town of Manni, which left more than 150 people dead and which the local Christians described as “more than horrible.” Despite the violence, the community of believers in Manni claimed that “although the terrorists have burned everything, they have not burned our faith!”
On this occasion, more than a hundred terrorists burst into two villages in the parish of Saatenga, in the east of the country, on 20 October. A local source explained to ACN that men in these places flee and hide quickly because the terrorists “mainly attack men of fighting age and not directly women, children or the elderly.”
However, during the attack, “a Christian girl who was trying to flee her home was killed by mistake because the terrorists mistook her for an adult,” said the same source, who also preferred to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
“When they arrive, the extremists kill the entire population or, after killing several people at random to show that they are serious, they force people to leave their homes before nightfall,” another priest, Fr. André Poré from the Rollo department, told ACN in late October.
The terrorists also burned and looted several homes in both towns, Christian and Muslim alike, including the home of a catechist who was out of town when it all started. ACN reports that his wife and three young children were attacked.
“The family is safe and sound, the fact that the husband was absent saved her life,” the local source said.
The pontifical foundation denounces that catechists are at the centre of violence in Burkina Faso, as they are the ones who have been left in charge of the faithful in many villages. Unfortunately, not all of them survive.