“The Holy Father has learned with sorrow the news of the attack on the church in Dablo, Burkina Faso. He prays for the victims, for their families, and for the entire Christian community in the country”, the “ad interim” director of the Holy See Press Office, Alessandro Gisotti, wrote in a tweet. Indeed, at 9am yesterday morning, in the parish of St. Isidore, in the north of the country, about 20 jihadists on motorcycles encircled the church. Local sources report that their target was Burkinabe priest Fr. Simeon Yampa, 34, in charge of interreligious dialogue in his diocese. When he tried to escape, the terrorists chased him and gunned him down. They then returned to the church, forced the faithful to lie on the ground, chose five and shot them too. Without mercy. According to Dablo mayor, Ousmane Zongo, the gunmen then “set fire to the church, to several shops and a cafe, before looting a health centre and burning it down. Panic spread through the town, people barricaded themselves in their homes, and shops were closed. Soldiers were sent from the town of Barsalogho, 45km from Dablo, to carry out searches throughout the day.