What happened
On 24 August 2024 JNIM fighters attacked hundreds of civilians digging a trench to protect the town of Barsalogho, in the Centre-Nord region, and the soldiers with them. Human Rights Watch verified at least 133 dead, including dozens of children, and at least 200 injured, from video analysis and witnesses, and found that soldiers had forced residents to dig under threat; other estimates run from 200 to several hundred, and the government has published no toll. JNIM claimed the attack and said it had killed about 300 people it regarded as affiliated with the state.
The deadliest attack in Burkina Faso's war by most counts, and the one that shows the "total war" doctrine's cost to the population it mobilises: civilians conscripted into defence works became the target, and the state's answer — more trenches dug around the town in the days after — was the same instrument. It is the Burkinabè case the module's protection file most needs, and the toll is carried as a verified floor rather than as any of the larger figures in circulation.
Confidence: High
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