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 CURRENT PAGE:WORLD | MONDAY, DECEMBER 02, 2019
Gunmen storm Sunday church service in Burkina Faso, kill at least 14 including pastor, children

Gunmen storm Sunday church service in Burkina Faso, kill at least 14 including pastor, children

A church in Burkina Faso. Sunday’s massacre follows a series of attacks by radical Islamist insurgents against Christians in the embattled West African country. The country of 19 million is about two-thirds Muslim, with a Christian minority. (Photo: Khym54 via Flickr)

Suspected Muslim extremists launched an attack on a church in eastern Burkina Faso on Sunday morning, killing at least 14 people and wounding several others, the government said.

The attack took place in the village of Hantoukoura near the border with Niger in the East region, according to a report from the AFP news agency. After spraying bullets into the congregation during the Sunday service, the assailants fled on motorbikes. 

A security source told the outlet that armed individuals carried out the attack, "executing the faithful including the pastor and children.” 

On Sunday, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore announced the news on Twitter and condemned “the barbaric attack” in the town of Hantoukoura. He said several people also were wounded.