"On Thursday morning, a military vehicle hit a homemade explosive device between Gayeri and Foutouri. Six soldiers were killed and several others were seriously injured," a source said.

"A cleaning up operation is under way," the source said.

In 2015, Burkina Faso, one of the world's poorest countries, joined a string of countries in the Sahel region to come under pressure from jihadists.

Rebels began staging cross-border raids in the north of the country from neighbouring Mali.

Using classic guerrilla tactics, the rebels aim at police and the military with gun attacks and roadside bombs, target buildings and personnel perceived to represent the state, and abduct individuals.

Now deadly attacks with home-made bombs are a regular occurrence in Burkina Faso, and have killed 29 people dead since August according to an AFP count.

Thursday's attack came a day after a gendarme was killed and another injured in the country's north, where three people, including an Indian and a South African national, had been kidnapped at the end of last month.

The attackers fled towards the Malian border but were "neutralised" by the French military, the French defence forces said in a statement.

According to official figures released in mid-September, Islamist attacks have so far cost the lives of 70 civilians and 48 members of the security forces.

On Saturday, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets of Ouagadougou, in part angered by the government's failure to quell the string of deadly attacks.