Around 20 army volunteers died near Bourasso close to the Malian border on Saturday.

A similar number of people died in another attack in the same area on Sunday.

Sources say that following Saturday's violence, tens of insurgents were "neutralised" in an airborne operation by government forces.

Burkina Faso's Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyélem de Tambèla told parliament that his government would never negotiate with the jihadists.