An autopsy on the supposed remains of Burkina Faso's iconic ex-president Thomas Sankara, who was killed in a 1987 coup, showed he was 'riddled with bullets", a lawyer for his family said Tuesday.

"In terms of the (gunshot) wounds, what was found in relation to Thomas Sankara's body is really mind-boggling. You could say he was purely and simply riddled with bullets," lawyer Ambroise Farama said.

Farama emphasised she was still waiting for the results of DNA tests to confirm the body was that of the revolutionary former army captain but said "there is every reason to believe" the remains exhumed from a cemetery in the capital Ouagadougou in May were his.