HRW: 223 villagers killed by army in Burkina Faso in massacre in February

The report was made public on Thursday, exactly two months following the massacres took place.

The villages are located in an area of ​​the country characterized by fighting between the government army and jihadist rebels. The authorities have so far refused to comment on the accusations. According to HRW, the killings are among the worst abuses committed by the country’s army since the Islamist insurgency began in 2015.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) believes that these are revenge attacks.

– The mass killings appear to be part of a wide-ranging military operation once morest civilians accused of collaborating with Islamist armed groups, and they may amount to crimes once morest humanity, the report states.

It also states that the soldiers killed 44 people, including 20 children, in the village of Nondin, and 179 people, including 36 children, in the neighboring village of Soro. The area is located in the Yatenga province in the north of the country.

No investigation

– The massacres in the villages of Nondin and Soro are the latest mass killings of civilians committed by Burkina Faso’s military forces in counter-insurgency operations, says HRW’s head Tirana Hassan.

She points out that the authorities in Burkina Faso have done nothing to prevent or investigate the mass murders, and that international efforts are needed to start a credible investigation into what might be crimes once morest humanity.

The report is based on interviews with 23 people, including 14 people who are said to have seen the murders with their own eyes.

Verified videos

– Human Rights Watch has verified videos and photos that survivors and wounded have shared in the followingmath of the killings, according to the report.

Already at the beginning of March, local authorities reported that around 170 people had been killed in attacks once morest three villages on 25 February, including in Nondin Og Soro. A local official called the killings pure “executions” and added that many were also wounded and that the death toll was preliminary.

However, nothing was said regarding who was behind it, and the circumstances surrounding the murders were unclear.