Six gendarmes killed in Burkina Faso ambush

Armed gunmen killed six members of a paramilitary police unit on Monday in an ambush in Djibo town in Soum province in northern Burkina Faso.

“Armed terrorist groups operating in the region” were behind the attack, a security source told AFP.

At least 100 suspected militants took part in the attack on the gendarmes, according to Burkinabe news site Infowakat.

The latest incident comes after 29 civilians were killed in two attacks on Sunday in the northern province of Sanmatenga

Another attack on the same day wounded four soldiers in Yatenga province, AFP reports.

President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré condemned the attacks, saying in a tweet: “These unspeakable attacks, these despicable acts will not go unpunished.”

The authorities have been struggling to contain a Islamist militancy in the north and east of the country, near its borders with Mali and Niger.

According to AFP, regional leaders are due to meet for a summit in the capital, Ouagadougou, on Saturday to discuss the security situation.