4 soldiers killed in Burkina Faso attack: Security sources

At least four Burkinabe soldiers were killed Monday when gunmen raided a military base in the north, security sources said, a day after 10 people died in a separate attack in the same region.

The pre-dawn attack saw heavily-armed gunmen ambush a base in Nassoumbou in Soum province which flanks the Malian border, with one security source saying they used rockets.

"Heavily-armed and unidentified individuals attacked the GFSN military base in Nassoumbou at around 4:00 am. Four members of the defence and security forces were killed and four others were injured," a security source told AFP.

The GFSN is a military force which is engaged in anti-terror operations in Burkina Faso's restive north.

"The attackers... arrived on motorbikes and also fired rockets at the base" which caught fire, a second security source told AFP, saying they fled towards the Malian border, which lies just 30 kilometres (18 miles) away.

Nassoumbou was also targeted in November when two soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb. But the worst attack on the base was just over two years ago in December 2016 when gunmen staged a deadly raid in which at least 12 soldiers were killed.

Monday's attack came just 36 hours after gunmen raided Sikire, a village about 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the east, killing 10 people when they opened fire on local residents.

Burkina Faso lies in the heart of the vast Sahel region, which is struggling with a bloody insurgency by Islamist extremists.

The region turned into a hotbed of violence and lawlessness after chaos engulfed Libya in 2011.