Eighteen killed, including eight foreigners, in attack on Turkish restaurant in Burkina Faso

At least eight foreigners are among 18 dead after an attack on a Turkish restaurant in Burkina Faso, the country's Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said Monday.

Among the dead are two Kuwaiti women, a Frenchman, a Canadian woman, along with victims from Senegal, Niger, Lebanon and Turkey. Three victims remain unidentified, the foreign minister said.

Gunmen stormed the Aziz Istanbul in the capital Ouagadougou, which was packed with people watching a football game at the time of the attack.

It was in an area upscale neighbourhood popular with foreigners, which has been targeted by al-Qaeda before.

A nearby hotel and cafe were targeted by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb militant last year, which left 30 people dead including a renowned French-Moroccan photographer.

The recent attack bore the hallmarks of an attack by the North and West African-based militant group who have been growing in strength in the region.

"They started shooting on the terrace. We climbed up the stairs and lay on the ground. The attackers came and pointed their guns at us," one survivor told national television.

"I didn't understand their language, it might have been Arabic."

Meanwhile, a UN peacekeeper and Malian soldier were injured in a suspected jihadist attack in neighbouring Mali on Monday.

The UN base came under fire in Douentza from a hill, according to AFP, before Malian troops repulsed the militant attack.

Agencies contributed to this story.