Gunmen killed at least 13 gendarmes in an ambush Sunday at Taparko, a mining town in northern Burkina Faso regularly targeted by jihadist fighters, security sources said.

"A team from the gendarmerie at Dori fell into an ambush set by armed individuals this afternoon near Taparko," a security source told AFP. As well as the 13 confirmed dead, a number of other gendarmes were missing, the source added.

Another security source said reinforcements had been called in and were searching the sector for eight missing gendarmes.

An additional eight gendarmes were wounded in the attack, two of them seriously, and they had been evacuated for treatment in Tougouri.

The attack came as two people were killed and several others injured when a bus hit a landmine Sunday, also near Taparko.