Gunmen kill Catholic priest, worshippers in Burkina Faso church attack

Unknown gunmen have killed six people including a Catholic priest as Mass was being celebrated in a church located in Dablo, northern Burkina Faso.

According to a government statement, the worshippers were attending morning mass when at least 20 men surrounded them and shot six dead.

"These terrorist groups are now attacking religion with the macabre aim of dividing us," the statement said.

"Towards 9 a.m. during mass, armed individuals burst into the Catholic Church," the mayor of Dablo, Ousmane Zongo said. "They started firing as the congregation tried to flee."

The attackers then burned down the church, a shop, two vehicles, and also looted a health centre.

No one has claimed responsibility for the church attack, but fighters affiliated to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, as well as the local Ansarul Islam, have been active in the region, according to BBC.

Last month, attackers targeted a Protestant church in the town of Silgadji, killing at least six people and earlier in April, four people died when a Catholic church was attacked in a nearby village, the bishop of Dori in northern Burkina Faso told Vatican news agency Fides.