When eight Ghanaian tomato traders were shot dead and their vehicles set ablaze in the northern Burkinabè town of Titao on Saturday, 14th February 2026, the initial assumption was that they had fallen victim to the generalised violence that has plagued the Sahel for years.

However, a leading Ghanaian security analyst now argues that the assumption is wrong and that the evidence points to something far more deliberate.

Dr Ishmael Norman, a security analyst and former public servant with extensive expertise in West African conflict dynamics, has told Citi FM's The Big Issue that the Titao killings bear every hallmark of a premeditated, politically motivated act, one aimed not at the traders themselves but at the government they represented.

"The fact that the terrorist group knew that the people were Ghanaians, even by their language and licence plate, and allowed them to go for the goods and on their way back attacked them, means that they were not interested in stealing from them. They were interested in sending a message to the government of Ghana to be very careful," he stated.

What Happened at Titao

The attack unfolded in Titao, the capital of Loroum Province in northern Burkina Faso, a town that has been repeatedly targeted by extremist groups since 2019 and which sits at the heart of one of the Sahel's most volatile security corridors.

The victims were all members of the Ghana National Tomatoes Traders and Transporters Association. They were part of a larger group of 18 traders who had crossed the border on a routine commercial run to buy tomatoes, a journey that thousands of Ghanaian traders make each year to supply one of the country's most relied-upon food markets.

According to Eric Tuffour, President of the Tomato and Onion Truck Drivers Association, militants who entered the town singled out the convoy and separated its passengers by gender, ordering women to stand aside before opening fire on the men. "All the men who were seated on top of the vehicle were shot dead," Tuffour recounted. The driver, attempting to shelter inside the cab, locked the doors. The attackers set the vehicle on fire with him still inside.

Eight women who were travelling with the group survived. The Ghana government confirmed on 15th February that eight male traders and drivers had been killed. Interior Minister Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka confirmed that the bodies had been burnt beyond recognition and could not be repatriated. Burkinabè authorities informed Ghana's mission that the remains had begun to decompose and had to be buried locally. DNA samples were taken before burial to assist with eventual identification, and Ghanaian female survivors were present as witnesses.

On Tuesday, 17th February, a Ghana Air Force aircraft was dispatched to Burkina Faso to evacuate three injured male survivors. The mission, described by the Armed Forces as a coordinated humanitarian and security operation, brought the survivors to the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, where they are receiving medical treatment and psychological counselling. President John Mahama visited the survivors at the hospital personally.

Al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, universally known as JNIM, claimed responsibility for the attack on 16th February, asserting that it had killed "dozens of Burkinabè soldiers" during the raid. Ghana's Embassy in Burkina Faso confirmed JNIM's responsibility in a report published on 17th February.

A Message About Diplomacy

Dr Norman's analysis centres on the precision and timing of the attack. The fact that the traders were identified as Ghanaian, permitted to complete their purchases, and then targeted on their return journey suggests, in his view, that the assault was planned well in advance with a specific political objective.

He linked the attack directly to Ghana's diplomatic posture within the Economic Community of West African States and, in particular, to President John Mahama's engagement with Burkina Faso's military leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power in a coup in September 2022.

Traoré, now 37, has led Burkina Faso on a sharply confrontational path, severing ties with France, expelling Western military forces and forging the Alliance of Sahel States alongside Mali and Niger, which formally withdrew from ECOWAS on 29th January 2025.

JNIM, by contrast, has waged a sustained insurgency against Traoré's government, framing it as an apostate regime. In this context, Dr Norman argues, any West African government seen to legitimise Traoré becomes a potential adversary in JNIM's calculus.

"The message is that Ghana is giving Ibrahim Traoré too much legitimacy, so mind the way you deal with him," he said.

He urged the Ghanaian government to communicate clearly to JNIM that its ECOWAS obligations are distinct from any endorsement of Burkina Faso's internal governance.

"I think that the message that we should send to the JNIM in Burkina Faso is to reassure them, through whatever means possible, that the relationship that President Mahama is obligated to court among ECOWAS has nothing to do with support of the internal affairs of Burkina Faso, but rather it is a regional duty for regional security and international diplomacy, so that they would not attack us again," he said.