Burkinese soldiers (Archive)

Extremists killed at least three soldiers and eight civilian auxiliaries in an attack Saturday in Burkina Faso's volatile north, security sources told AFP.

The soldiers, who were patrolling with the auxiliaries, were caught in an ambush in the district of Bouroum, indicated one source, while another said the toll could rise, adding that two people were still unaccounted for.

The sources noted that the ambush had happened near Silmangue, in Namentenga Province.

The latest attack comes after a September 30 coup that ousted Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba -- who himself seized power in January -- and a day after 34-year-old captain Ibrahim Traore was named as his successor as transitional president.

Burkina Faso, one of the world's poorest nations, has a long history of coups since its independence from France in 1960. The latest is rooted in unrest within army ranks over the extremist insurgency that swept in from neighboring Mali in 2015.

Thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million have been displaced and more than a third of the country lies outside government control.

Traore has vowed to uphold a pledge that Damiba made for a return to a civilian government by July 2024 at the latest. But like Damiba before him, Traore defended the coup on the grounds that the authorities were failing to do enough against the insurgencies.

On October 2, Damiba fled the country after a weekend of violent protests that also targeted the French Embassy and saw demonstrators raise Russian flags.