Americans have been urged by the US State Department not to travel to Burkina Faso, which has been fighting an Islamist militant revolt since 2015.

An updated travel advisory on Tuesday warned that Burkina Faso is now at the highest level of threat to travellers “because of terrorism, crime and kidnappings”.

“The US government is unable to provide emergency services to US citizens throughout most of the country,” the advisory added.

The country’s jihadist insurgency, which came from neighbouring Mali, began in the north but has since spread to the east.

According to a toll compiled by AFP, combining guerrilla hit-and-run tactics with road mines and suicide bombings, the insurgents have killed nearly 600 people. Civil society groups put the tally at more than 1,000.

In October, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that violence in Burkina Faso had caused more than a quarter of a million people to flee their homes over the previous three months.