On February 25, 2024, jihadists from the Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISGS) killed fifteen parishioners at a church in Essakane-Village, Gorom-Gorom Department, Burkina Faso.

In retaliation for the attack, Burkinabe soldiers killed over two hundred civilians in the Nondin and Soro massacres that same day.

Much of northern Burkina Faso has been the frontline of an insurgency waged by Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara since 2015, with these groups intensifying their attacks on civilians seen as sympathetic to the government since 2019.

Father Jean-Pierre Sawadogo, vicar general of the diocese of Dori, initially reported a "terrorist attack" on the church that killed fifteen parishioners.

[3] Twelve of the victims were killed on site, and three died at a local hospital of their injuries.