EGN NEWS DESK
At least 15 individuals have been reported dead after an assault on a Catholic church in Burkina Faso on Sunday.
The assault occurred in Essakane village, in Oudalan province. The space lies near Burkina Faso’s border with Mali within the north-east of the nation.
The BBC stories that gunmen carried out the assault throughout a Sunday service on the church.
Abbot Jean-Pierre Sawadogo mentioned that 12 individuals had been killed immediately and one other three died later in hospital.
According to the report, it’s suspected that the gunmen had been Islamist militants.
Churches have been more and more focused in Burkina Faso as Islamist teams with hyperlinks to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have taken maintain of elements of the nation.
Burkina Faso ranks twentieth within the Open Doors World Watch List of high 50 international locations the place Christians endure the worst persecution owing to the unfold of Islamic extremism, political instability and widespread displacement.
There are an estimated 5.3 million Christians within the nation, out of a complete inhabitants of slightly below 24 million.
“Burkina Faso was the epitome of spiritual cohesion, however Islamic militant affect has managed to erode a lot of the peaceable coexistence between Muslims and Christians,” mentioned Open Doors.
