About 60 killed in blast at unofficial gold mine in Burkina Faso

Images show a large explosion site of felled trees and destroyed tin houses

Dozens of people were killed after the explosion in the south-west of Burkina Faso. AFP

About 60 people were killed and dozens more wounded on Monday in an explosion at an unofficial gold-mining site in south-west Burkina Faso, state television reported, quoting local officials.

The cause of the explosion in Poni province was not yet known, the region's high commissioner, Antoine Douamba, told state television.

Images showed a large blast site of felled trees and destroyed tin houses. Bodies lay on the ground, covered in mats.

Burkina Faso is home to large gold mines run by international companies but also to hundreds of smaller, unofficial sites that operate without oversight or regulation.

Children often work in these so-called artisanal mines, where accidents are common.

Burkina Faso, one of the world's least developed countries, is under attack from extremist groups linked to Al Qaeda and ISIS, who seek control of mines as a means to fund their violent attacks.

Monday's blast was hundreds of miles from where these groups usually operate and there was no sign that militants were involved.