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Case Number
20241205SORO
Case Date of Filing
07/12/2024
Suspected/Known Time of Incident
Local Time and Date: 07:00am 25/02/2024
Case Researcher(s)
Alexandra Lau & George Rock
07:00 of February 25, eye-witnesses recount, a military convoy with more than 100 Burkinabè soldiers arriving in the village of Nondin. They came on motorbikes, pickup trucks, and armoured cars. The soldiers went door-to-door, ordering people out of their homes.
They then rounded up villagers in groups and opened fire on them. Soldiers also shot at those trying to flee or hide.
An hour later, the military unleashed a similar horror on the village of Soro, five kilometres away.
By nightfall, the Burkina Faso military had summarily executed at least 223 civilians, including at least 56 children, in the two villages.
These killings followed an Islamist attack on a military base near Ouahigouya, the provincial capital, earlier the same day.
Case Location:
Latitude/Longitude (WGS84)
13°52′N 2°23′W
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Town/Region/Country
Soro and Nondin villages in Thiou district, Yatenga province, northern Burkina Faso.
Individual Incident Locations:
-Note: prior to execution, and burial victims were separated by gender and age. Specifically, men were separated from women and children.
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Potential location 1 and 2:
Two sites to the NE bound of the village, in flat ground potentially to avoid the need to dig graves through tree roots.
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39 male decedents, and 51 female and child decedents.
Potential location 3, 4 and 5:
Three sites to the W bound of the village. Note women appear to be buried beside buildings, while men appear to be buried around 50 m away from buildings.
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20 male decedents, and 20 female decedents.
Potential location 6:
One site to the SW bound of the village. Note this is the only suspected grave of only child decedents.
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10 child decedents of unknown gender.
Potential location 7 and 8:
Two sites to the S bound of the village. Note both locations appear to be beside a cluster of buildings
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14 male decedents, and 15 female decedents.
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Case Location Evidence Below:
HRW has conducted interviews with witnesses of the attacks, who took footage of the attacks.
Potential locations 1 through 8:
Casualties
1. Nondin Village:
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Around 8:30 a.m., a military convoy of over 100 soldiers arrived, shortly after Islamist fighters were seen passing through the area shouting "Allah Akbar."
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Soldiers went door-to-door, ejecting residents and checking identification. Villagers were gathered in groups and then shot indiscriminately.
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People attempting to flee or hide were also targeted.
Casualties: 44 civilians killed, including 20 children.
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2. Soro Village:
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Soldiers arrived about an hour later, following a similar pattern of rounding up villagers and opening fire.
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Survivors reported men and women being separated into groups before the killings began.
Casualties: 179 civilians killed, including 36 children.
Suspected or Known Aggressors:
At 7:00 a.m., the Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina (RTB), the government-run national television network, reported “a major attack” by Islamist fighters on the Ouahigouya military base. A military special forces counterinsurgency unit known as the Rapid Intervention Battalion (Batallion d’Intervention Rapide, BIR), “chased the fighters fleeing towards Thiou” and “neutralised the maximum of those who could not” flee.
This report made no reference to civilian casualties and stated that soldiers requested that aerial drones do not follow the fighters they were chasing, and to “leave this group to them,” perhaps indicating that they did not want the drones to record what followed.