Pretoria - Gunmen killed 24 people including a pastor in an attack on Sunday during a service at a Protestant church in Burkina Faso's Yagha province, local and international media reported.
News website Today Nigeria said it was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack in the village of Pansi, but the area has had several such incidents where jihadists targeted Christians.
The governor of the region, Colonel Salfo Kabore, said a group of armed terrorists raided the village and attacked local residents after having identified them and separated them from non-residents.
"The provisional toll is 24 killed, including the pastor ... 18 wounded and individuals who were kidnapped," UK publication Daily Mail quoted Kabore as saying.
Pansi villagers fled to the nearby town of Sebba for safety, the Daily Mail said, citing a Sebba resident.
The newspaper said on February 10, suspected jihadists in Sebba seized seven people at the home of a pastor. Five bodies were found three days later, including the pastor.
Since 2015, some round 750 people have been killed in Burkina Faso and around 600 000 have fled their homes in jihadist attacks, the Daily Mail said.
According to the United Nations, attacks in Burkina Faso as well as neighbouring Mali and Niger left nearly 4 000 people dead last year.