Six people, including a priest, have been killed in an attack on a Catholic church in Dablo, Burkina Faso after attackers opened fire as people prayed at Sunday mass.

"Towards 9.00 am, during mass, armed individuals burst into the Catholic Church," the mayor of Dablo, Ousmane Zongo, told AFP. "They started firing as the congregation tried to flee."

Dablo is a village located 90km from Kaya in the north-central part of the country.

The attack is the first on a Catholic church since terrorist attacks began in the country in 2015. Over 350 people have been killed in the raids which have been attributed to a number of jihadist groups, including the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and the Ansarul Islam group.

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On April 29, gunmen attacked a Protestant church, killing a pastor and four worshippers in Silgadji near Djibo, which was the first attack on a church, France 24 reports.

Muslim and Christian clerics have been targeted by the groups. In February, a Spanish Catholic priest was killed in a raid in Nohao in the center of the country.

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