From ... in Warfare History Literature Genocide Surveillance Conspiracy — Sep 15, 2025

Burkina Faso: Islamist Armed Groups Massacre Civilians

(Nairobi) – Two Islamist armed groups have killed several dozen civilians in three separate attacks in northern Burkina Faso since May 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. These attacks violated international humanitarian law and are appare

(Nairobi) – Two Islamist armed groups have killed several dozen civilians in three separate attacks in northern Burkina Faso since May 2025, Human Rights Watch said today.

These attacks violated international humanitarian law and are apparent war crimes. An Al-Qaeda-affiliated armed group, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen, or JNIM) attacked the town of Djibo, Sahel region, on May 11, and the village of Youba, North region, on August 3, altogether killing at least 40 civilians.

The Islamic State in the Sahel Province (IS Sahel) attacked a civilian convoy bringing humanitarian aid to the besieged town of Gorom Gorom, Sahel region, on July 28, killing at least 9 civilians. “The Islamist armed groups in Burkina Faso have been responsible for repeated atrocities against civilians since 2016,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should provide better protection for all civilians at risk, investigate abuses, including those by the military and allied militias, and fairly prosecute those responsible.” Since the start of their insurgency in Burkina Faso in 2016, the Islamist armed groups have repeatedly attacked and forcibly displaced tens of thousands of civilians.

The Burkinabè government, which took power in a 2022 coup, has increasingly targeted civilians during counterinsurgency operations. Between May and August 2025, Human Rights Watch interviewed 23 people by telephone, including 14 witnesses to abuses, 9 civil society activists, members of the judiciary, community leaders, journalists, and militia members. JNIM claimed responsibility for the May 11 attack on Djibo in which hundreds of fighters overran a military base, seized weapons, and killed dozens of soldiers. Fighters entered several neighborhoods and executed at least 26 civilians and burned shops and health facilities. Witnesses said that fighters targeted civilians from ethnic Fulani subgroups, whom it accused of joining or supporting the Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (Volontaires pour la Défense de la Patrie, or VDPs), civilian auxiliaries that assist the armed forces in counterinsurgency operations. “We found the bodies, including of very old men, in or outside their homes,” a 56-year-old man said. “Many were shot in the head.” On August 3, JNIM attacked Youba village and killed 14 civilians, including a woman and four children, two of whom died after fighters set the shop where they were hiding on fire. Residents believe the attack aimed to punish the community for not complying with JNIM’s orders not to cultivate certain tall-growing crops that fighters said hindered their operations. In an August 15 reply to questions from Human Rights Watch, JNIM’s Sharia Committee in Burkina Faso (Comité chariatique du GSIM au Burkina Faso) wrote that JNIM “has never, and could never, intentionally target civilians. If some claim that abuses have been committed in Djibo, Youba, or any other locality, it can only be unfounded allegations, or at most, incidental events caused by stray bullets, of which we have no knowledge.” On August 21, Human Rights Watch wrote to Burkina Faso’s justice and defense ministers with its research findings and questions but received no response. In July, IS Sahel attacked a civilian convoy for which Burkinabè soldiers and militia provided an escort.

The convoy was transporting civilians, food, and other humanitarian aid for the besieged town of Gorom Gorom. Witnesses and other sources said the convoy was not transporting weapons or military equipment. “I remember the fear of that day,” said a 52-year-old survivor. “I heard a lot of gunfire and screams. I jumped off the truck, crouched down with my hands on my head, and awaited my fate.” All parties to the armed conflict in Burkina Faso are bound by international humanitarian law, notably Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and customary laws of war.

The laws of war prohibit summary executions, attacks on civilians and civilian property, and looting, among other violations. Warring parties are obligated to facilitate the delivery of impartial humanitarian assistance. Military personnel escorting a convoy do not make a civilian convoy a military objective. Attacks on combatants must take into account the principles of taking all feasible precautions to minimize civilian harm, distinction between civilians and combatants, and proportionality.

The government has an obligation to impartially investigate and appropriately prosecute those implicated in war crimes, which are serious violations of the laws of war committed with criminal intent. Burkina Faso established a Specialized Judicial Unit Against Terrorism-Related Crimes (Pôle judiciaire spécialisé dans la répression des actes de terrorisme) in 2017 with dedicated judges, staff, and a trial chamber in the capital, Ouagadougou, to investigate alleged crimes by members of Islamist armed groups. Investigations have moved slowly, however, and the unit lacks sufficient funds and personnel, which hinders its ability to deliver on its mandate and ensure due process rights. Burkinabè authorities have also made scant progress in investigating and prosecuting members of the government security forces who have been implicated in serious human rights abuses during counterinsurgency operations, as Human Rights Watch has documented. On July 17, the African Union appointed Burundi President Évariste Ndayishimiye as its Special Envoy for the Sahel region, despite his administration’s own record of human rights violations. Nevertheless, Ndayishimiye has an opportunity to strengthen the AU’s response to the most pressing human rights problems facing Burkina Faso’s government, including promoting accountability for crimes by all parties to the conflict, Human Rights Watch said. “The AU Special Envoy should press the Burkina Faso government to investigate and appropriately prosecute all those responsible for serious abuses in Burkina Faso’s conflict,” Allegrozzi said. “The AU should provide technical and financial support to the Specialized Judicial Unit so that it can effectively deliver on its crucial mandate.” For witness accounts and other details of the attacks, please see below.

The names of those interviewed have been withheld for their protection. JNIM Attack on Djibo, Sahel Region, May 11 On May 11, JNIM led a major attack on Djibo, targeting both government security forces and civilians. Media reports and witnesses said that hundreds of fighters riding motorbikes stormed the town and took control of its military base, then executed at least 26 civilians in several neighborhoods. JNIM has besieged Djibo for over three years, cutting the population off from food, basic necessities, and humanitarian assistance, leading to illness and starvation among residents.

The Attack Witnesses said the attack began at about 5 a.m. and that JNIM fighters remained in the city until late afternoon. “I heard a loud explosion from Sector 4, where the military base is, followed by gunfire whistling above our heads,” said a 35-year-old woman. “Shooting continued almost all day, although by around 1 p.m. there was less of it. We hid in the house crying and praying.” A blacksmith, 46, said that four JNIM fighters, including one he recognized, broke into his home in Sector 2 and ordered him and his brother outside: “He [the fighter he recognized] told me: “I'm here to avenge my father’s assassination. Your brother had denounced my father to the military, and the military killed him in your [blacksmith’s] forge.” My brother froze next to me. He tried to provide explanations. But they didn’t listen to him. I asked him [the fighter] for mercy. He didn't listen to me either but said they wouldn't kill me because I wasn’t on the list of people who denounced civilians to the military. So, he shot my brother in the head and twice in the chest.” The blacksmith confirmed that in November 2024 soldiers from a Rapid Intervention Battalion (Batallion d’Intervention Rapide, or BIR), a special forces unit involved in counterinsurgency operations, killed the father of the JNIM fighter in his forge. He said the victim had not been a member of the armed group. Witnesses said residents hid in their homes for three days, until military reinforcements came and secured the town. “When we went out, we found that many people had been killed, mostly in Sector 2,” a 50-year-old man said. “There, I helped recover more than 20 bodies of both men and women.” A 48-year-old man said that in Sector 2 he found the body of a 93-year-old member of the Tamboura family “lying on his bed, and riddled with bullets,” as well as the body of a 30-year-old woman who had been shot in the head. “It took us three days to collect the bodies,” he said. A 56-year-old man said, “While most of the bodies were in Sector 2, people were also killed in other neighborhoods.” He said that at the market in Sector 1, he found the body of a 47-year-old man with a psychosocial disability (mental health condition) that was “riddled with bullets.” Residents provided a list with the names of the 26 victims, including 3 women, ages 28, 30, and 32, and 23 men, ages 27 to 93. Of the victims, 16 belonged to the Tamboura family. Witnesses said that fighters also burned dozens of shops in the central market in Sector 1, as well as a pharmacy, and looted a health facility. Satellite imagery analyzed by Human Rights Watch confirmed the burnings.

The witnesses said they left Djibo as soon as they could. On June 27, a supply convoy escorted by the military arrived in Djibo. When the convoy left a month later, they followed it to reach other localities. A 35-year-old woman said she “took advantage” of the convoy to leave Djibo “where I was living in total hell.” She said she lost her daughter “because of hunger, because of the blockade imposed by the jihadists.” JNIM Response Witnesses said that JNIM fighters targeted civilians from ethnic Fulani subgroups.

These subgroups include the Rimaïbé, including members of the Tambouras, a large local family, and the metal workers whom JNIM accused of supporting the VDPs.

The Tamboura family said that in February, JNIM circulated a video on social media threatening to attack its members. Experts on the JNIM insurgency said the video shows Ousmane Dicko, the younger brother and deputy of Jafar Dicko, the JNIM leader in Burkina Faso. In the video, Dicko holds papers with a list of over 90 handwritten names that he says mostly belong to members of the Tamboura family in Djibo. “Why are they joining the VDPs and not the mujahedeen [Islamic fighters]? ... What did the mujahedeen do to them? Did they loot their cattle? Did they burn their homes?” Dicko can be heard saying, “What did the mujahedeen do to the Tamboura to push them to leave the mujahedeen and join the VDPs?” Witnesses said JNIM reproached the Tamboura family after some of its members fled JNIM-controlled areas between 2022 and 2023, to go to Djibo, where security forces are present and some family members joined the VDPs. In an August 15 reply to Human Rights Watch, JNIM’s Sharia Committee in Burkina Faso said that “we have never targeted the Tamboura people. Our action is not based on any ethnic or racial considerations, but exclusively on the necessity to respond to those who have declared war on us.” Response of the Authorities JNIM had previously attacked the military base in Djibo in October 2022, killing at least 10 soldiers. In November 2023, the armed group attacked the military barracks and a camp for internally displaced people, killing at least 40 civilians. Residents expressed concerns about the military’s efforts to improve security in Djibo through the use of VDPs. A Djibo resident said, “The military has established a climate of terror.

They turned on the Tamboura [family] and the metal workers, pressuring them to join the VDPs...

They have divided the [Fulani] community by pitting its members against each other. “You are forced to say that this or that person is an accomplice of the jihadists to have credit with the military,” the 46-year-old blacksmith said. “The military have pressured many of us to lie and denounce [other] civilians.” Media reported that several soldiers and VDPs were killed in JNIM’s May 11 attack on Djibo.

The government did not issue any public statement about the attack, but on May 16, Burkina Faso’s state broadcaster, Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina (RTB), confirmed that on May 11, “hundreds or even thousands” of Islamist fighters attacked the military base in Djibo and that the military responded with several airstrikes in Djibo and surrounding villages. JNIM Attack on Youba, North Region, August 3 On August 3, JNIM killed at least 14 civilians in Youba village, including a woman and four children. Residents said the attack was to punish the local community for not complying with JNIM’s instructions not to cultivate certain crops. Witnesses said the fighters also looted a gas station and burned at least 10 shops at the market. Two of the children killed, boys ages 12 and 14, who hid in a shop during the attack, died after fighters set the shop on fire. JNIM fighters also killed at least 9 on-duty VDPs and an off-duty VDP. A 64-year-old woman said she heard the fighters saying: “People of Youba, you said you are brave, real men. Women [of Youba], we are going to kill all your husbands. Didn’t we tell you that you should not cultivate this year?” Witnesses said that months before the attack, JNIM had warned villagers of Youba and surrounding localities not to grow tall crops, such as millet and corn, which could hinder their operations. “They had ordered us not to cultivate so they can see far,” a 36-year-old woman said. “Crops like peanuts and beans are tolerated.” Witnesses said that hundreds of JNIM fighters on motorbikes and at least one pickup truck with a mounted machine gun stormed the village at about 4 p.m. yelling “Allah Akbar” (“God is great”).

They said the fighters took control of the VDP base, then entered several neighborhoods, where they shot dead the men they found. “They didn’t go door-to-door,” the 64-year-old woman said. “But I saw them chasing and shooting all men they saw outside.” Witnesses said that, although JNIM fighters targeted the men, they also shot the woman and two children as they attempted to flee. “The woman was killed on the spot near the VDP base,” said a 45-year-old man who had helped recover the bodies after the attack. “The two children were severely injured at the market and died after they were evacuated to the hospital.” A farmer, 45, said, “I was in my peanut field with my wives when I saw a pickup truck with a heavy weapon on top. My wives covered me with a jacket. A jihadist asked them if there were any men with them.

They said no and they left.” Residents provided a list with the names of the 14 civilian victims, including 9 men, ages 27 to 55, the 35-year-old woman, and 4 children, ages 1 to 14. Witnesses said that overwhelmed VDPs in the town did not respond to the attack and instead fled, leaving civilians unprotected. A 36-year-old woman said she heard JNIM fighters saying: “Do you want to challenge us? Your VDPs can do nothing against us. Where are they? They have fled, leaving you behind. Your husbands will be in trouble.” Witnesses said that the military, which is based in Ouahigouya, 12 kilometers away, did not come during the attack, but that soldiers from BIR 14 only went to Youba after the attack to secure the area and allow VDPs to return to their base. Youba residents said that in the days following the attack, regular army soldiers were deployed from their base in Ouahigouya to Youba to build a defensive trench around the village. “The soldiers began digging the trench north of Youba using excavators, and VDPs were helping them,” the 45-year-old farmer said. Residents and media reported that on August 11, JNIM attacked Youba again, killing dozens of soldiers and VDPs. JNIM claimed responsibility for the attack the same day. Residents said JNIM targeted soldiers and VDPs who were digging the trench, and that two civilians were injured. Human Rights Watch geolocated two videos posted on social media on August 13 showing dozens of JNIM fighters on motorbikes driving freely inside Youba village. IS Sahel Attack Near Gorom Gorom, Sahel Region, July 28 On July 28, IS Sahel attacked a civilian humanitarian convoy escorted by Burkinabè soldiers and VDPs near the town of Gorom Gorom. At least nine civilians were killed and several others injured.

The assailants also attacked the soldiers and burned several trucks. Witnesses said that at about 1 p.m., Islamist fighters attacked a convoy containing at least 100 civilian trucks carrying at least 100 civilians, mostly traders and residents of Gorom Gorom.

The convoy was heading south from the town of Dori about 56 kilometers away, along a road where IS Sahel is known to operate and attack security forces.

The convoy was carrying food and other humanitarian aid to the town of Gorom Gorom, which IS Sahel has besieged for over three years. At least 10 military pickup trucks carrying Burkinabè soldiers and VDPs escorted the convoy. “The trucks carried food and other important supplies for the people of Gorom Gorom,” a 34-year-old man said. “No weapons or ammunitions were being transported, it was a civilian convoy.” Witnesses said that when the convoy, which stretched about two kilometers, reached the village of Balliata, about 23 kilometers from Gorom Gorom, fighters opened fire on the convoy.

They said that the military escorting the convoy fired back but soon retreated. “We began seeing a lot of people around the convoy, we thought they were farmers, but all of a sudden, they started shooting at us,” said a 52-year-old man who jumped off a truck in front of the convoy. “They shot continuously for over five minutes, I lied on the ground near the tire, as other people jumped off screaming.” Witnesses believed the assailants were members of IS Sahel because the armed group had previously carried out similar attacks in the area. In January, IS Sahel fighters attacked a convoy escorted by the Burkinabè military that was carrying supplies and civilians between the towns of Dori and Seytenga in the Sahel region, resulting in 21 deaths, including at least 3 civilians. Media, citing security sources, also reported that the July 28 attack was carried out by IS Sahel. Witnesses said that IS Sahel fighters killed at least nine civilians during the July 28 attack. “I saw nine bodies that were taken to Gorom Gorom before they were buried at the cemetery the day after the attack,” said a 50-year-old man. “I knew all victims, one was my cousin. But this isn’t the final death toll, because most of those killed were taken to Dori.” Witnesses provided a list with the names of the nine victims, including two women, ages 25 and 39, and seven men, ages 25 to 52. Neither IS Sahel nor the Burkinabè government or military issued any public statements about the attack.

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Burkina Faso: Islamist Armed Groups Massacre Civilians

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