'Four killed' in attack on Burkina Faso Catholics

Gunmen have killed four Catholics and burnt a statue of the Virgin Mary in an attack on a religious procession in northern Burkina Faso, church officials have said.

The attack in the town of Ouahigouya occurred on Monday, a day after a Catholic priest and five parishioners were shot dead in Dablo town, also in northern Burkina Faso, the officials added.

Worshippers were moving through Ouahigouya when "a group of terrorists intercepted the procession, killing four worshippers and burning the statue," a spokesman for the Ouagadougou Cathedral was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

In an address to bishops in Burkina Faso's capital on Tuesday, Paul Ouedraogo said a priest in neighbouring Niger had also been shot and wounded in an attack on Monday.

"All of this indicates that our West African region is strongly troubled," he said, Reuters news agency reported.