At least 14 people were shot dead in an attack on a church in eastern Burkina Faso on Sunday morning, the government said. 

The victims were attending a service at a church in Hantoukoura, in the eastern part of the country on Sunday. The identities of the gunmen were not immediately clear and further details on the attack had yet to emerge. Burkinabe armed forces were caring for the wounded and searching the area, the government said in a statement.

President Roch Marc Christian Kabore condemned "the barbaric attack" and revealed that several people also were wounded in a tweet.

Islamic extremists have been active in Burkina Faso since 2015. Jihadists have attacked police stations and churches across the country's north but also recently have struck in the east.

Most of the violence is attributed to jihadists affiliated with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, with around 500,000 people internally displaced by attacks, according to the UN.

(With input from AFP)