The jihadist attack that hit the town of Seytenga in northern Burkina Faso at the weekend killed 86 people according to a new official report, with transitional president Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba calling
it “unimaginable”
during an attack.
a visit to the survivors on Wednesday.
"Lieutenant-Colonel Damiba went this (Wednesday) morning to Seytenga to show the nation's compassion for the people, victims of a terrorist attack during the night of June 11 to 12, 2022 and which cost the life to 86 people,”
the presidency said in a statement.
The previous assessment of this attack reported 79 civilians killed in this town located a few kilometers from the border with Niger.
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“What happened here is something unimaginable for disarmed populations, who are just waiting to live. Your pain is the pain of all of Burkina Faso,”
the head of state told the survivors.
According to a government count, more than 8,300 people took refuge in Dori, the large town near Seytenga after the attack, 61% of them children.
Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba also addressed the Dori security forces on Wednesday.
“It is now more than ever that we must be mobilized and united in the face of the threat” which “often comes from the other side of the border”,
he launched.
“It is no longer conceivable to do things as we did before.
We can no longer make road checkpoints as traditionally because our positions are known”
, he added, calling on the army to
“integrate the terrorist threat into all (its) activities”.
Seytenga's attack was condemned by the international community, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling it
"appalling"
in a statement , while African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki spoke of a
“unspeakable and despicable murder”.
According to survivors, the inhabitants of Seytenga found themselves alone against the jihadists after the departure of the security forces the day before.
Two days before the attack, the jihadists had already come to Seytenga and killed eleven gendarmes.
This attack is the second deadliest recorded in Burkina Faso, after that of June 2021 against the village of Solhan, also in the north near Niger, where 132 people were killed according to the government, 160 according to local sources.
A three-day national mourning began Tuesday at 00:00 (GMT and local).
Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who overthrew elected President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré at the end of January, accused of being ineffective in the face of jihadist violence, had promised to make the security issue his
"priority".
Since 2015, attacks attributed to jihadist groups have left thousands dead and nearly two million displaced in Burkina.