Three Burkina Faso soldiers were killed and another wounded in a dawn attack Wednesday by suspected jihadist fighters in the north of the country, near the border with Mali, the Burkinabe military said.

Unidentified individuals attacked an advanced army post at Intangom, five kilometres (three miles) from the Mali border and 20 kilometres from Tin-Akoff on the Niger border, leaving three dead and one wounded on the Burkinabe army side, the armed forces chief of staff said in a statement.

Two of the attackers were also killed in the fighting, it said.

"We think that these were jihadist elements," a senior army officer told AFP, adding that a helicopter was aiding the search for the unknown assailants.

It is the first time that Burkinabe troops have been killed on their own soil by suspected jihadists.

The army has, since 2012, had an anti-terrorist battalion deployed along the country's long border with Mali, an area which is frequently subjected to attacks and kidnappings.