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OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso  Antoine Ouedraogo didn’t run when Islamic extremist fighters killed his colleagues only feet away from him in northern Burkina Faso. Instead, the 53-year-old says, he simply recited a secret word and became invisible. The father of 17, who used to arrest bandits and now fights the extremists as part of a local defense militia, says a secret medicine he took as a child continues to protect him from bullets and machetes. “As adults, we still have that medicine inside of us,” he said. “Even now if something happens, I can disappear.” Fighters like Ouedraogo are putting their faith in these traditional spiritual practices to protect them as attacks linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State ravage the West African nation, killing thousands and displacing more than 1 million people. The deeply rooted tradition holds that plants, animals and ritual objects mixed with verses from holy texts can provide protection before going to battle.

Burkina fasoSaudi arabiaSierra leoneAli kamenaIdrissa cisseAntoine ouedraogoDanny hoffmanJean celestin kyZerbo universityJackson school of internationalAfrican studies programUniversity of washingtonAssociated pressInternational crisis groupIslamic stateWest african