Gunmen kill six during Catholic mass in Burkina Faso

"Towards 9:00 am, during mass, armed individuals burst into the Catholic church," the mayor of Dablo, Ousmane Zongo, told AFP. "They started firing as the congregation tried to flee." </s> Gunmen have burned down a church during mass and killed six people, including a priest, in Burkina Faso, officials say.

The morning attack happened in the northern town of Dablo, security sources and local official said.

“Armed individuals burst into the Catholic church…They started firing as the congregation tried to flee,” the mayor of Dablo, Ousmane Zongo, told news agency AFP.

It is the third attack on churches in Burkina Faso in the past five weeks.

A priest was among those killed in the attack which happened at 09.00 local time [10:00 GMT), Mayor Zongo said.

The militants also set fire to a nearby shops and a health centre, a government official told the BBC. </s> OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO (AFP) – Gunmen killed a priest and five church-goers during mass on Sunday (May 12) in an attack on a Catholic church in Dablo, northern Burkina Faso, security sources and local official said.

“Towards 9am, during mass, armed individuals burst into the Catholic church,” the mayor of Dablo, Mr Ousmane Zongo, told AFP.

“They started firing as the congregation tried to flee.”

The gunmen managed to trap some of the worshippers, he added.

“They killed five of them. The priest, who was celebrating mass, was also killed, bringing the number of dead to six.”

The attackers set fire to the church, several shops and a small cafe before heading to the local health centre, which they looted and burnt the chief nurse’s vehicle, said Mr Zongo.

Sunday’s attack was the latest of a series carried out against Christian churches in Burkina Faso.

Last Sunday, gunmen killed five people in an attack on a Protestant church in the small northern town of Silgadji. </s> Six people were killed Sunday during mass at a Catholic church in central Burkina Faso, according to state media.

Gunmen on motorcycles stormed the church in Dablo on Sunday morning, killing six men, including the priest, before setting fire to the church and buildings in the area, the Burkina Information Agency reported. </s> Authorities say gunmen have attacked a Catholic church in Burkina Faso, killing a priest and five worshippers.

The attack on Sunday took place in Dablo, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the capital, Ouagadougou.

Urbain Kabore, a government spokesman for the West African country's Sahel region, said the gunmen also set fire to a health center and destroyed all places serving alcohol.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attacks bore the hallmarks of Islamic extremists who are known to be active in the area. An attack on a Protestant church about two weeks ago left six people dead.

Burkina Faso has been increasingly destabilized by jihadists from across the border in Mali. Attacks have included the kidnapping of foreigners. </s> May 12 (UPI) -- Attackers killed six people attend mass at a Catholic church in Burkina Faso on Sunday morning, officials said.

Witnesses said the priest and five churchgoers were killed and several others were injured in the attack on the Catholic Church of Dablo in the landlocked West African country, VOA Africa reported.

"They were about 40 on motorcycles," a witness said. "They made everyone lie down, executed five before torching the church."

The attackers stormed the mass on Sunday morning and then proceeded to set fire to the church and surrounding shops.

Burkina Faso has experienced religious terrorist attacks since April 2015 and last month six people, including a pastor, were killed by assailants at a Protestant church in the community of Sigadji.

The population of the country is 61.5 percent Muslim, 23.3 percent Roman Catholic and 6.5 percent Protestant, according to the 2010 census. </s> Gunmen kill six and burn Catholic church in Burkina Faso attack, government says

Gunmen have killed six people, including a priest, outside a Catholic church in Burkina Faso, the Government says, the second attack on Christians in two weeks in a nation increasingly overrun by jihadists.

Congregants were leaving church about 9:00am Sunday in the town of Dablo in the Central North region when about 20 men encircled them and shot six dead, according to a government statement and local sources.

The attackers then burned the church, looted a pharmacy and some others stores, and left, Dablo Mayor Ousmane Zongo told Reuters.

The Government statement only mentioned the burning of a shop and two vehicles.

Burkina Faso has been beset by a rise in attacks in 2019 as groups with links to Islamic State and Al Qaeda based in neighbouring Mali seek to fuel local tensions and extend their influence over the porous borders of the Sahel, the arid scrubland south of the Sahara.

The Government declared a state of emergency in several northern provinces bordering Mali in December because of deadly Islamist attacks.

But violence has only worsened since. Two French soldiers were killed in an operation to rescue four people taken hostage in Burkina last week, France said.

Over 100,000 people in Burkina Faso have been displaced by the unrest this year, the United Nations has said.

Roughly 55 per cent to 60 per cent of Burkina Faso's population is Muslim, with up to a quarter Christian.

The two groups generally live in peace and frequently intermarry.

Then in late April unidentified gunmen killed a pastor and five congregants at a Protestant church, also in the north, suggesting the violence was taking a religious turn. </s> The killing came as a result of a fresh attack on a Catholic church in Toulfe, northern Burkina Faso.

"The attack, which took place around 09:00 (local and GMT), killed at least three and injured several people," the AFP reported.

The latest attack comes after media reported that six people, including a priest, were killed on 12 May in an assault on a Catholic church in Dablo, northern Burkina Faso.

The attacks comes as the authorities of Burkina Faso have launched a massive anti-terrorist operation in the eastern and central-eastern regions of the country, Sputnik news reports. </s> Gunmen have killed six people including a priest as Mass was being celebrated in a church in Dablo in northern Burkina Faso, officials say.

The attackers, said to number between 20 and 30, then burned down the church.

The town's mayor, Ousmane Zongo, said that there was panic as other buildings were burned down and a health centre looted.

Jihadist violence has flared in Burkina Faso since 2016, and this is the third attack on a church in five weeks.

How did the attack unfold?

It began at about 09:00 (GMT and local time), during Mass.

The mayor of Dablo, Mr Zongo told the AFP news agency: "Armed individuals burst into the Catholic church... They started firing as the congregation tried to flee.

"There is an atmosphere of panic in the town. People are holed up in their homes, nothing is going on. The shops and stores are closed. It's practically a ghost town," he said.

Security sources told AFP that reinforcements were being sent from Barsalogho, some 45km (30 miles) to the south.

A local journalist told the BBC those killed included church elders and that residents were angry that soldiers in a nearby base did not respond promptly.

Who could be behind the attack?

Islamist groups have been blamed for a number of attacks in the West African nation in recent years.

Fighters affiliated to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group as well as the local Ansarul Islam have been active in the region.

Last month, attackers targeted a Protestant church in the town of Silgadji, killing at least six people

And earlier in April, four people died when a Catholic church was attacked in a nearby village, the bishop of Dori in northern Burkina Faso told Vatican news agency Fides.

Schools and teachers have also been targeted by the groups, who are opposed to Western education.

On Friday, French special forces carried out a rescue mission in northern Burkina Faso, freeing four hostages.

It is believed the four - two French citizens kidnapped in Benin, a South Korean and an American - were being driven to Mali to be handed over to the militant group, Katiba Macina. Two French soldiers died during the mission.

What's the wider picture?

Burkina Faso is among countries in the vast Sahel region battling Islamist insurgencies in the region.

It formed a regional force, G5 Sahel, along with Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Mali to take on the militants.

In January, PM Paul Kaba Thieba resigned amid growing pressure over a rise in kidnappings and jihadist attacks, and Christophe Joseph Marie Dabiré was named his replacement.

France, a former colonial ruler in the region, has some 4,500 troops in four nations carrying out a mission codenamed Barkhane to counter jihadists.
Gunmen burn down a Catholic church during mass and kill six people, including a priest, in Dablo, Burkina Faso.