Image copyright AFP Image caption An official said Friday's attack was the biggest jihadist assault ever carried out against the army

Twelve soldiers have been killed and two are missing after an attack by Islamist militants near Burkina Faso's border with Mali, the army has said.

Insurgents who carried out the attack did so on pick-up trucks and motorbikes, waving black flags.

The soldiers were in the area to guard Burkina Faso's long and porous border with Mali, where a number of Islamist groups are active.

No group is reported to have claimed responsibility for the attack.

However al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is based in the Sahara Desert between Mali, Niger and Algeria and has attacked west African countries.

In January AQIM claimed to have killed 29 people - many of them foreigners - in a hotel attack in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

Soum Province High Commissioner Mohamed Dah told the AFP news agency that Friday morning's attack - about 260km (160 miles) from Ouagadougou - was "the biggest jihadist attack ever perpetrated" against the army.

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"They [the attackers] were heavily armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket-launchers. They opened fire at the depots, the tents and set fire to some of the vehicles," he said.

The "murderous" attack on "the army's anti-terrorist force" has been denounced by President Rock Marc Christian Kabore in an address to the nation.

Image copyright AP Image caption In January the security forces had to deal with an attack by militants on a hotel frequented by foreigners in Ouagadougou

"I strongly condemn this horrible attack which shows the cruelty of these perpetrators," he said.

Authorities have not revealed how many troops were injured.

The army says it has sent reinforcements to the Mali border, an area where attacks and abductions are regularly reported.</s>At least 12 Burkina Faso soldiers were killed in a jihadist attack on an army base near the Burkina-Mali border on December 16, 2016. By Dominique Faget (AFP/File)

Ouagadougou (AFP) - At least 12 Burkina Faso soldiers were killed Friday in what local authorities said was the biggest ever jihadist attack on the army, at a base near the restive border with Mali.

"A detachment of our army's anti-terrorist force suffered a murderous attack which claimed the lives of 12 of our valiant soldiers and left some wounded," said President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, in an address to the nation.

"I strongly condemn this horrible attack which shows the cruelty of these perpetrators," added Kabore, who did not specify the number of injured.

Two more men were missing after around 40 jihadists riding pick-up trucks and motorbikes attacked the army's Nassoumbou base some 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Burkina-Mali border, the high commissioner of Soum province, Mohamed Dah, earlier told AFP by phone.

"They were heavily armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket-launchers. They opened fire at the depots, the tents and set fire to some of the vehicles," he said, adding that it was "the biggest jihadist attack ever perpetrated" against the army.

Dah added that at least five attackers were killed although their bodies were removed from the scene by other assailants on motorcycles.

A security source who asked not to be named said the assailants were wearing turbans and waving black jihadist flags.

Troops at the Nassoumbou base are part of a 600-strong anti-terrorist battalion that was deployed in January 2013 when France sent in troops to counter a jihadist insurgency in northern Mali.

This was the second direct attack against the Burkina army since jihadist assailants surfaced in the country in early 2015, mostly staging attacks in the north near the borders of Mali and Niger.

But in January this year, three jihadists left dozens of people dead and 71 injured in an attack in the heart of the capital.

Thirty people were killed when gunmen stormed the four-star Splendid Hotel and a nearby cafe in Ouagadougou.

The Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) group behind a string of attacks in west Africa in recent years claimed responsibility for the strikes on the venues which were popular with Westerners.

The army has, since 2012, had an anti-terrorist battalion deployed along the country's long border with Mali, an area which is frequently subjected to attacks and kidnappings.

In October, Kabore had called on his countrymen to help fight back against the mounting jihadist threat.</s>OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Authorities say at least 12 soldiers are dead after dozens of Islamic extremists attacked an army barracks in northern Burkina Faso.

The jihadists stormed the barracks early Friday in Nassoumbou, a town near the Malian border that is about 160 miles from Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou.

The assailants also set fires to the premises, including tents and military vehicles, a security official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

This West African country has seen a number of assaults since al-Qaida-linked extremists attacked in Ouagadougou in January, killing 30 people.

Burkina Faso's president was set to travel to Nigeria for a meeting on the Gambia crisis but has canceled his trip.</s>At least 12 Burkina Faso soldiers have been killed near the restive border with Mali in what authorities say is the biggest jihadist attack on the Burkinabe army.

“A detachment of our army’s anti-terrorist force suffered a murderous attack, which claimed the lives of 12 of our valiant soldiers and left some wounded,” said President Rock Marc Christian Kabore, in an address to the nation.

“I strongly condemn this horrible attack which shows the cruelty of the perpetrators,” added Kabore, who did not specify the number of injured.

Two more men were missing after around 40 jihadists riding pick-up trucks and motorbikes attacked the army’s Nassoumbou base, some 30 kilometres from the Burkinabe-Mali border, the high commissioner of Soum province Mohamed Dah earlier said by phone.

“They were armed with Kalashnikovs and rocket-launchers. They opened fire at the depots, tents and set fire to some of the vehicles,” he said, adding that it was the biggest jihadist attack ever perpetrated against the military.

Dah added that five attackers were killed though their bodies were taken by other assailants.

A security source said the assailants were wearing turbans and waving black flags.

Troops at the Nassoumbou base are part of a 600-strong anti-terrorist battalion deployed in January 2013 when France sent in soldiers to counter a jihadist insurgency in northern Mali. ()</s>A volunteer tests the "Faso Soap", a soap aimed to repel mosquitoes and protect people from the malaria, during a laboratory test with volunteers on November 4, 2016 in Ouagadougou. AFP PHOTO | NABILA EL HADAD

Thrusting their arm into a box full of hungry mosquitoes, a group of brave volunteers in a Burkina Faso laboratory test an innovative weapon in the fight against malaria — soap.

The team behind the "Faso Soap" project aims to create a cheap, accessible product to repel mosquitoes and protect people from a disease that claimed nearly 500,000 lives in 2015, most of them in Africa.

With one eye on a stopwatch, Gerard Niyondiko, the Burundian researcher behind the special soap, watches the behaviour of around a hundred hungry female mosquitoes.

The volunteers wait to be bitten, but the odorous liquid — a secret mix of local plant oils — applied to their skin beforehand protects them from the cloud of hungry insects.

In the small laboratory in Burkina Faso's National Centre for Malaria Research and Training in Ouagadougou, Niyondiko has been working since June to test the effectiveness of the soap at repelling mosquitoes and refine the recipe using different oils.

In West Africa, "malaria kills a child every two minutes", Niyondiko says. Of the 214 million people infected with malaria in 2015, 88 percent of cases were registered in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation. Among them, 438,000 died and children are the most vulnerable.

The idea of using soap came from seeing that malaria continued to spread despite the distribution of mosquito nets.

"Mosquito nets offer protection during sleep but they keep the heat and the most vulnerable populations can't afford to buy repellent for the whole family to protect them the rest of the time," Niyondiko said.

"So we thought about a product used in the everyday life of these populations, which doesn't require any change of habits."

Soap was ideal, he said, because "it's a product that even the poorest households buy and the whole family can share it".

"If we manage to integrate (malaria) prevention into this product which is already available at an accessible price, it will mean we can save people who are unwilling or unable to spend more to protect themselves," he said.

"We are working on prevention with a new tool: bringing together two things which don't at first glance have anything in common: hygiene and malaria," said Lisa Barutel, 28, one of Niyondiko's two associates on the project.
An attack on a border post near Burkina Faso's border with Mali, leaves at least 12 Burkinabe troops dead and two others missing.