At least 15 worshippers have been killed by gunmen while praying in a mosque in Salmossi, in northern Burkina Faso, security services said.  They are the latest casualties of a spiralling conflict in the West African country that has so far left hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.  In Response to the attack, the multireligious Board of the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) issued the following statement:

“With heavy hearts, members of the Board of KAICIID find themselves again – for the second time in a week – offering condolences to the families and loved ones of victims of attacks on places of worship.  The first atrocity – in Halle, Germany, targeted members of the Jewish community at prayer during the holy day of Yom Kippur.  And now, two days later and many kilometres away, Muslims have been murdered during Friday Prayers.

Though prompted by a variety of twisted motivations - political, religious or race-based - the result of such attacks is always the same, namely the deaths of innocents at their most unsuspecting and vulnerable. The Board reiterates also that no justification for violence can be found in any religion.  All the faiths share common ground in values of peace and tolerance and all believers have a right to observe their religion in peace.”