According to a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, jihadist groups are reported to control gold sites in northern Burkina Faso, levying taxes and protection fees from gold miners. Taxation and protection fees are not always viewed as oppressive by the local population. Local gold miners can see these practices as democratisng access to gold mine sites previously controlled by actors with powerful political connections. Protection may even be solicited by miners, sometimes in response to crackdowns on ASGM by the state. However, the refusal to make payments can have dire consequences. In June 2021, in the deadliest attack to date in Burkina Faso, insurgents attacked the gold-mining community of Solhan, in the Sahel region, killing at least 132 civilians. It was reported that jihadists targeted the site after Koglwéogo, a local self-defence group, secured the mine site and refused to pay protection fees or any other payments to the group.