PHOTO| COURTESY.
By Aaron Sseruyigo & News Agencies
In the middle of a church service in Hantoukoura town of Burkina Faso, unidentified gunmen opened fire on Sunday, killing 14 people and injuring several others.
Following the onslaught, the gunmen fled on motorbikes, International Christian Concern, an interdenominational human rights organization dedicated to assisting Christians throughout the world, reported on Monday.
Agence France-Presse quoted a source as saying that approximately 10 “heavily armed individuals” carried out the attack, “executing the faithful including the pastor and children.”
According to The Associated Press, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore condemned “the barbaric attack” on Twitter Sunday, and offered his “deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded.”
Soldiers are pursuing the terrorists who escaped, according to CBN News.
Though the identity of the attackers is not yet known, security forces there told the AFP that the church is located in an area where places of worship have already suffered attacks by Islamists, and since February the number of attacks against Christian targets has accelerated.
Burkina Faso’s population is around two-thirds Muslim and one-third Christian, but according to the AP, the two religions have co-existed peaceably there over the years.
In 2015 all that began to change with a rise in Islamic extremism that destroyed the peace and frequently led to attacks on Christians.
Last May CBN News reported that five Christians, including their pastor, were murdered by Islamic terrorists in another church in Burkina Faso.
Then in June, at least 19 Christians were killed in an attack on the village of Arbinda in the northern part of Burkina Faso.
According to Barnabas Fund sources, the number of those killed may be as high as 29 as 10 more people were reportedly murdered in the nearby Namentenga province the next day.
“There is no Christian anymore in this town (Arbinda),” said a Barnabas Fund source. He added that 19 people were killed and that the entire population of Christians had fled for their safety.
“It’s proven that they were looking for Christians,” the source continued. “Families who hide Christians are killed. Arbinda had now lost in a total of no less than 100 people within six months.”
