Church attacks leave many dead in Africa

A rash of attacks on churches in Burkina Faso is exposing the growing challenge of containing Islamist violence across Africa’s Sahel region. 

On May 12 militants attacked a Roman Catholic Church service in Dablo, a town north of Burkina Faso’s capital, killing a 34-year-old Catholic priest and at least five worshippers. An estimated 20 to 30 attackers fired on the fleeing congregation and then returned to set the church ablaze. 

Two weeks earlier the militants targeted a Protestant church in the town of Salgadiji, killing at least six people.

News reports said the militants asked those killed to convert to Islam before killing them. Four people were killed in an earlier attack in the same area. (RNS)