Religious leaders and places of worship are regularly targeted by jihadist groups active in Burkina Faso.67-year-old priest, Jacques Zerbo was murdered by suspected jihadists on Monday in the province of Sourou, APA learnt on Tuesday from the bishop of Dédougou, Bonaventure Ky.

“I am deeply saddened to announce the death of Father Jacques Yaro Zerbo, following an attack by unidentified armed men in Soro,” the bishop said in a statement.

 The religious was intercepted and executed when he left the town of Dédougou to go to the locality of Gassan for pastoral activities. 

The assailants took his vehicle and his driver, who was missing.

 The 67-year-old Catholic priest spent 37 years as a priest in the bishopric of Dédougou. 

He had created a rehabilitation centre for young people in the Tougan region, which he was later forced to relocate to Moundasso (Dédougou) because of terrorist attacks.

 Father Zerbo was also in charge of the diocesan commission for the follow-up of the cause of beatification of Dii Alfred Diban Ki-Zerbo.