Gambiaj.com – (OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso) – A new report has revealed that the death toll from a brutal attack in the town of Barsalogho, Burkina Faso, in August is much higher than previously estimated. According to a French government security assessment cited by CNN, up to 600 people were killed in the August 24 massacre, a significant increase from earlier estimates provided by the United Nations, which had put the number at around 200.

The attack, which unfolded in a matter of hours, was carried out by members affiliated with Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda offshoot. Most of the victims were women and children, who were shot dead as they dug protective trenches around the town. Survivors describe a scene of horror as jihadist fighters swept through the outskirts of Barsalogho on motorcycles, targeting civilians indiscriminately.

One man, who was among the dozens instructed by the army to dig the trenches, recounted the terrifying moments as the attack began. “I started to crawl into the trench to escape,” he told CNN. “But it seemed that the attackers were following the trenches… There was blood everywhere on my way.” He managed to survive by hiding under a bush for hours as the violence raged on.

Another survivor, who lost two family members, said the killings continued for an entire day. “For three days, we were collecting bodies, scattered everywhere. Fear got into our hearts,” she said, explaining how difficult it was to bury the dead due to the sheer number of bodies.

JNIM, an Al-Qaeda affiliate active in Burkina Faso and Mali, has been waging a jihadist insurgency in the region since 2015. The group’s actions have fueled one of the most severe humanitarian crises in Burkina Faso’s history, where over 20,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced.

Despite ongoing military efforts, attacks from both Al-Qaeda and Islamic State-linked groups have surged, with the conflict claiming nearly 3,800 lives in 2024 alone, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).

The scale of the Barsalogho massacre underscores the growing threat posed by jihadist groups in the Sahel region, and the increasing difficulty faced by local forces in protecting vulnerable populations. While the military had instructed residents to dig the trenches as a defense measure, it appears the attackers used these very trenches to track and kill their victims.

JNIM has issued repeated warnings to civilians against supporting the military, as both state and international forces continue to struggle with the insurgency. With the toll from this latest attack now significantly higher than initially reported, the humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso shows no signs of abating.