Christian worshippers attacked in Burkina Faso church, 6 killed

Fighters affiliated to IS group as well as the local Ansarul Islam have been active

A group of attackers fired at Christian worshippers in Burkina Faso as the victims were leaving church service, eyewitnesses have said. Several people were reportedly killed, including the protestant pastor.

The pastor of the church was also killed in the raid, which targeted the Protestant congregation in the small northern town of Silgadji, some 200 kilometres (124 miles) away from the capital Ouagadougou. It is the first attack on a church since jihadist violence erupted in the West African country in 2016.

Burkina Faso has been beset by rising Islamist violence this year, but the attack was the first of its kind on a church in the religiously tolerant West African country,

The attack took place on Sunday in the small northern town of Silgadji near Djibo, the capital of Soum province, and two others were reported missing.

Jihadist groups regularly target Christian and moderate Muslim clerics in the north of the country. Several hundred people have lost their lives in the violence. A Catholic priest was killed in February in a raid attributed to jihadist groups, and a group of gunmen kidnapped another priest in the north in March. Islamist groups have been blamed for a number of attacks in the country in recent years.

"The attackers were on motorbikes," a witness told AFP. "They fired in the air before aiming at the members of the congregation." The attack happened in the early afternoon, "just as the faithful were leaving the church at the end of the service," the witness added.

Attacks of such kind are a reminder of our religious faultlines and global terrorism threats. Governments need to do more for intelligence efforts to stop such inhuman acts. The latest raid in Silgadji comes just over a week following the series of deadly Easter bombings in Sri Lanka.