OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso

At least seven people were killed, including three gendarmes and four members of a local defense group in an armed attack in eastern Burkina Faso, a security source told Anadolu Agency.

The attack took place on Monday in the town of Tanwalbougou, Gourma province in the eastern part of the West African country.

“Heavily armed unidentified individuals ambushed … a patrol of gendarmes and Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland in the locality of Tanwalbougou,” a security source who asked not be named told Anadolu Agency on Monday night.

“The provisional toll shows three gendarmes and four volunteers killed,” the sourced said.

A hospital source also confirmed the attack saying seven injured were also recorded.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

The West African country has been marred by repeated terror attacks which have claimed many lives over the past five years and displaced thousands of people, who are also facing a serious humanitarian crisis.

Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali in the Sahel are at the epicenter of one of the world’s fastest-growing displacement and protection crises.

The region hosts 851,000 refugees and nearly two million displaced people, according to the UN Refugee Agency.