Eleven military police were killed in northern Burkina Faso on Thursday evening when their post was attacked by armed men, the army said in a statement on Friday.

The West African country is battling militant groups, some linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, that are waging an insurgency which has killed thousands across Burkina Faso and neighbouring Mali and Niger.

The attack took place at a security post in Seytenga, in the province of Seno, the army statement said. The gendarmes fought back but were outnumbered, it said.

Also on Thursday, four military police were killed in an attack in the western province of Kossi and two people were killed in an attack on a gold mine in the north, the army said.