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Ouagadougou - Three police were killed in western Burkina Faso early on Friday when their barracks were attacked by "about 50" assailants, the defence ministry said.
A security source said the attack - which occurred near the border with troubled Mali - had been carried out by "jihadists."
The gendarme brigade in the district of Samorogouan came under pre-dawn attack and one of the assailants was killed.
A statement signed by general chief of staff General Pingrenoma Zagre said the attacks came early on Friday "when about 50 armed" and as yet unidentified men from Burkina's western borders attacked the gendarme brigade at Samorogouan.
Concurring sources added that a civilian had had his throat slit and a policeman had been abducted.
Samorogouan is about 400km northwest of Ouagadougou but only some 30km from the border with Mali.
The attack comes on the heels of an abortive coup in Burkina Faso on September 17, when an elite army force loyal to the old regime of deposed leader Blaise Compaore tried to snatch power from the transitional authority.
Earlier this week, coup leader General Gilbert Diendere and Djibrill Bassole, a former foreign minister under Compaore, were charged with murder and attacking state security.
