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. These jihadist groups had been known to invade towns in Ouahigouya Department, including Karma and Aorema, multiple times over the past few years demanding
zakat. In the first few months of 2023, numerous human rights abuses were committed against civilians by Burkinabe soldiers. In February 2023, seven children and teenagers were executed by Burkinabe soldiers in Ouahigouya Department, and videos of the incidents were recovered by French newspaper
Libération. In response, Burkinabe junta authorities expelled Liberation correspondent
Agnes Faivre and
Le Monde correspondent Sophie Douce. The commune of Barga is made up of around 20 villages, and became a conflict zone between government forces and those of
Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Burkinabe affiliate
Ansarul Islam. In 2022 and 2023, the
Fulani inhabitants of Barga fled the area, but the inhabitants of Karma - a majority-
Mossi village - remained in support of the army. At the time of the attack, Karma had 400 residents. Five days before the massacre, between 40 and 75 militants from the pro-government
Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP) were killed in a
jihadist attack in Aorema, located close to Karma. Survivors from the Karma massacre reported that during the killings, a Burkinabe soldier told them "What they did to us, we are going to do to you." ==Massacre==