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Burkina Faso church attack kills 14

Monday, 2 December 2019


At least 14 people have been killed after gunmen opened fire inside a church in Burkina Faso.

The victims were attending a service at a church in Hantoukoura, in the eastern part of the country on Sunday.

The identity of the gunmen is not known and the motive is unclear.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the country over the past few years, mostly by jihadist groups, sparking ethnic and religious tensions especially on the border with Mali.

A statement from the regional government said that many people are injured.

Another source said the gunmen fled on scooters.

Last October, 15 people were killed and two seriously injured in an attack on a mosque, BBC reports.

Jihadist attacks have increased in Burkina Faso since 2015, forcing thousands of schools to close down.

The conflict spread across the border from neighbouring Mali where Islamist militants took over the north of the country in 2012 before French troops pushed them out.