Burkina Faso (MNN) — On Saturday in central Burkina Faso, an al Qaeda terrorist branch called the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) attacked and killed 200 people.

Civilians and a local militia group fought back against the coordinated attack but were overrun. Reports indicate most of those killed were civilians, including some women and children.

Attacks by JNIM are part of the Muslim extremist push to exert control in Burkina Faso and West Africa. With growing instability in the region, jihadists have been siphoning into Burkina Faso from both the north and east.

Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach (CWO) says, “It’s al Qaeda groups that are coming in and…trying to take over the country…. They keep attacking these villages and targeting even churches. I was just told at one church, they brought 26 men out and killed them; tied them up and killed them right there at the church.”

CWO runs an educational ministry called the Village of Opportunity (VOO) for girls in Burkina Faso. Yoder says, “Some of our girls that come to the Village of Opportunity are from the area that’s being attacked right now, and some of the teachers as well and family of people that that we know.

“Some of the girls are coming back to school early. It’s a boarding school, so they’re leaving their villages to get away from the situation.”

Students at the Village of Opportunity (VOO) with CWO in Burkina Faso. (Photo courtesy of CWO)

One challenge is that the Village of Opportunity classes weren’t supposed to start until next month.

“All of a sudden, now we have costs that we weren’t planning on as far as having the girls there to feed them and house them earlier than expected,” says Yoder.

“But these girls are resilient [and] they’re brave. Their heart is to make a difference somehow because they love the Lord, and they are looking for a better future for themselves and their villages and for Burkina as a whole.”

Pray for believers in Burkina Faso, for their faith and witness to others. Yoder shares, “Our leader there just even expressed that to me this morning – that they’re walking by faith.

“So pray, and if you feel led, give financially. We’re going to be needing to send some relief funds for food for people and people that are being displaced.”

Click here to donate to CWO’s Gospel-centered ministry.

Learn more about CWO in Burkina Faso.

Header photo of Burkina Faso self-defense forces in 2021. (Photo courtesy of Henry Wilkins/VOA – https://www.voaafrique.com/a/au-faso-des-groupes-d-auto-défense-pour-faire-face-à-l-insécurité/6253665.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=113757080)