EVANGELICAL churches in Burkina Faso have begun a month of prayer and fasting after more than 150 people, many of them Christians, were killed over three days last month, in an area controlled by jihadists.

The RC charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) said that terrorists, “torching buildings and burning some people alive”, targeted the eastern town of Manni, home to many Evangelicals and Roman Catholics.

Since 2015, nearly half of the West African nation has fallen under the control of two jihadist groups: the Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM (Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin), and Islamic State — Sahel Province, which both seek to establish a caliphate and impose sharia law. The ruling junta has turned to Moscow for military aid against the insurgents.

ACN said in a statement last week that the perpetrators of the attack in Manni on 6 October returned the next day, “attacking medical staff and murdering many of the previously injured who were being treated in hospital”. The charity said that the terrorists targeted the town on the third consecutive day, “massacring all the men they could find”.

Sources told the charity that many of the victims had sought refuge in Manni because extremists had already driven them from their homes in villages near by.

Illia Djadi, a senior analyst at the charity Open Doors UK, which supports Christians who face persecution, said that the terrorists had damaged the telecommunications infrastructure, and it was not safe to travel to the affected area.

The RC Bishop of Fada N’Gourma, Mgr Pierre Claver Malgo, condemned the “barbaric” attack and urged people to pray for peace. The national Federation of Evangelical Churches and Missions urged member organisations to pray and fast for two days each, between 20 October and 20 November.

The violence has strained previously good relations between Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population, and Christians, who represent about one quarter.

The violence has caused more than 2.2 million people to flee their homes, the UN refugee agency says. Mr Djadi described the killings as the latest in “a series of attacks” against Christians and moderate Muslims who oppose the extremists’ agenda.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We condemn reports of killings of civilians in Burkina Faso. We call on all actors in Burkina Faso to adhere to international humanitarian law.”