At least 15 people were killed on Sunday in an attack by gunmen on a church in Burkina Faso's north-eastern town of  Essakane, the BBC has reported.

The attack is said to have been carried out by Islamist militants who control a significant swathe of the country. Much of Burkina Faso is outside the control of the government, as various armed groups have been accused of killing thousands of civilians and causing the displacement of millions more.

Sunday's attack, which killed 12 people instantly - while others succumbed to their wounds during treatment - has been described as a "terrorist attack" by Abbot Jean-Pierre Sawadogo of the Catholic Diocese, where the attack took place, according to Al Jazeera.

With the political situation further exacerbated by two successive coups, the government has struggled to bring the 8-year-old insurgency under control.