At least 24 people were killed, 18 wounded and other kidnapped by armed terrorists during a weekly service at a protestant church in Pansi village in Yagha Province in northern. The pastor of the said church was killed in the attack and it is believed that the residents of Pansi had fled there for safety after their original homes were attacked by terrorists.
The attack occurred on Sunday during a weekly service at the church, according to security officials. The attackers, roughly 20 of them, separated men from women near the church. Both Christians and Muslims were killed before the church was set on fire.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack, but jihadist groups with links to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are seeking to gain control over rural areas of Burkina Faso by exacerbating ethnic and religious conflict.
Burkina Faso is on the frontline of a jihadist insurgency advancing in the Sahel. More than 1,300 civilians in Burkina Faso were killed in attacks last year — more than seven times the previous year with the majority of the targets being Christians.
