Six people including a priest have been killed by gunmen as Mass was being celebrated in a church in Dablo in northern Burkina Faso.

The attackers, said to number between 20 and 30, then burnt down the church and other buildings and as well looted a health centre.

BBC reports that the mayor of Dablo, Ousmane Zongo, told the AFP news agency: “Armed individuals burst into the Catholic church… They started firing as the congregation tried to flee.

“There is an atmosphere of panic in the town. People are holed up in their homes, nothing is going on. The shops and stores are closed. It’s practically a ghost town,” he said.

A local journalist told the BBC those killed included church elders and that residents were angry that soldiers in a nearby base did not respond promptly.

Jihadist violence has flared in Burkina Faso since 2016, and this is the third attack on a church in five weeks.

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