At least 14 people including teenagers have been shot dead at a church in Burkina Faso during Sunday mass.
Several other people were wounded in the attack which took place in the village of Foutouri in the Est region of the country.
The identity of the gunmen is not yet clear but the area has come under attack over the past year from suspected jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore tweeted: “I condemn the barbaric attack against the Protestant Church of Hantoukoura in the department of Foutouri, which left 14 dead and several wounded.
“I offer my deepest condolences to the bereaved families and wish a speedy recovery to the wounded.”
An Islamist insurgency in Burkina Faso this year has ignited ethnic and religious tensions, leaving large parts of the country ungovernable, especially in northern areas bordering Mali.
No group has asserted responsibility for the attack yet, but fighters linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda routinely ambush soldiers and civilians in a campaign to sow division, gain recruits and seize territory.
Such attacks have quadrupled during the past two years in Burkina Faso, which was once known as a peaceful farming state that prized art and religious tolerance. The country of 19 million is about two-thirds Muslim, with a Christian minority.
Now Burkina Faso is a hotbed for terrorism in the troubled Sahel region, which lies south of the Sahara Desert.
U.S. officials have warned that extremist groups (gunmen) are exploiting the remote terrain to train, forcibly recruit followers and plan attacks to carry out worldwide.
