Survivor of Burkina Faso killings: ‘I hid under piles of bodies’

The massacre, blamed on the country’s security forces, took place last week in the northern village of Karma and surrounding areas.

Residents and survivors of an alleged massacre in a village in Burkina Faso say 136 people, including women and babies, were killed when they blamed security forces for the April 20 attack.

“We were on our way to the well with my donkey when we saw them coming towards us,” Belem Lassane, a child survivor, told Al Jazeera on Saturday. “We hid in our houses. Our father came out. They took our IDs and started shooting at them, killing them all.

“They then destroyed the houses and killed our mothers. I hid under piles of bodies as they continued to shoot at us.

A prosecutor has launched an investigation into the “massacre” that took place in the northern village of Karma and the surrounding area after reports that people wearing the uniforms of the Burkinabé armed forces killed about 60 civilians.

“Our teams have documented and recorded 136 dead bodies in Karma, including 50 women and 21 children – some infants under 30 days old killed on their mother’s back,” said the Collective Against Impunity and Stigmatization of Communities (CISC).

The NGO said in a statement that the attackers also killed 11 people nearby on the same day — six in the village of Dinguiri, two in Mene and three on the road between Ouahigouya and Barga.

The organization said the attackers in Karma grouped dozens of civilians together, “making sure gunmen were left with each group with the password ‘Kill everyone,'” CISC chief Daouda Diallo said.

The attack, one of the worst attacks on civilians in the country battling rebels linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), has drawn condemnation and calls for an investigation by the United Nations Human Rights Office.

Burkina Faso is one of many West African countries grappling with an insurgency that has spread from neighboring Mali over the past decade, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people.

The military government has launched a massive offensive, which it says is aimed at retaking parts of the territory controlled by armed groups.

‘joy shattered’

The government condemned the attack on Karma in a statement on Thursday, but did not provide details of casualties. Since then, more information has come out.

Journalist Issa Nappon told Al Jazeera that while many people blame the security forces for the killings, it is important to be careful when assigning blame.

“Many people say the army attacked them and killed the people. What I want to say is that you have to be very careful…because you have gunmen and armed groups that have military outfits,” he said of Bobo Dioulasso.

A statement from residents and survivors on Saturday said the village was surrounded early on the morning of April 20 by heavily armed men in Burkinabe military uniforms riding motorcycles, pickup trucks and armored vehicles.

“The villagers initially rejoiced at their arrival, but their joy was quickly shattered by gunfire,” the statement said, adding that they counted 136 civilian casualties and nine wounded.

A representative of the residents and survivors said at a press conference in Ouahigouya, the provincial capital, about 15 km from Karma, that the government’s statement bordered on indifference and contempt for the village’s residents.

The statement creates confusion about the responsibility of security and defense forces for the massacre, he said.

“We, the population and survivors of the events in Karma and the surrounding area, have no doubt that it is the security and defense forces who are responsible for this massacre,” the statement said. “We will not be fooled. We know our security and defense forces well.”