Burkina Faso’s
government says 26 people were killed and a further 56 injured after
Islamist militants attacked a hotel in the capital, Ouagadougou, popular
with foreigners.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has said it carried out the attack, which began on Friday night.The siege at the Splendid Hotel was declared over after a joint operation by local and French security forces.
Those killed come from at least 18 different countries.
Burkina Faso is to observe 72 hours of national mourning for the victims.
At least four attackers died in the assaults. There were claims that some of those involved were women.
As well as the luxury hotel, a cafe and another hotel nearby were targeted. The operation to take back the hotel lasted through the night and into the morning.
Bukinabe President Roch Kabore, who arrived at the scene on Saturday morning amid tight security, said at least 150 hostages had been liberated.
The UK’s Foreign Office advised British nationals in Burkina Faso to avoid the area where the attack took place and monitor its travel advice.
The French government said one French citizen had been injured and efforts to identify those killed were continuing. No French nationals were known to be among the dead thus far.
In another development, the Burkina Faso government said a foreign doctor and his wife were kidnapped on Friday night in the north of the country, near the border with Mali. AQIM said it kidnapped the couple. There is confusion over the pair’s nationality – reports vary between Austrian and Australian.
In November, an AQIM attack on a hotel in Bamako, capital of neighbouring Mali, left 19 people dead.
At the scene: Thomas Fessy, BBC Dakar correspondent
The area surrounding the Splendid Hotel has been cordoned off. Soldiers can still be seen walking in and out of the building but the siege is now over.At least three cars parked right outside the front door are completely charred, the remains of another two sit just across the street. Two burnt motorbikes lie in the middle.
The light purple colour of the Splendid Hotel’s front side now looks black, probably caused by the smoke generated by explosions.
The Yibi hotel, opposite the Splendid, also shows signs of the attack, and the authorities say at least one attacker was killed inside the building.
Survivors described how the militants went from person to person, touching their bodies to see if they moved.
“They started shooting, shooting, and everybody lay down on the ground,” said Mariette, who escaped from the hotel with her younger sister.
“As soon as you lifted your head they would shoot straightaway, so you had to pretend to be dead. And they even came to touch our feet to check if we were alive. As soon as you were alive, they would shoot at you.”
Background: Tomi Oladipo, BBC Africa security correspondent
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb grew from a remnant of a defunct rebel force, rooted in Algeria’s civil war in the 1990s, into a wealthy and feared militant group that made its money from kidnapping Westerners and trafficking arms and drugs.In 2007 it announced it had joined the al-Qaeda network to fight against Western interests. Later though, some of its members left to form their own factions. The most notable of these was Mokhtar Belmokhtar who was behind the 2013 siege of a gas plant in Algeria.
In November 2015 Belmokhtar’s faction said it had worked with its parent group to attack a hotel in Mali. That signalled the mending of relations between some of the factions to rebuild the original AQIM, which was being overshadowed by its rival, the so-called Islamic State.
This latest attack in Burkina Faso would seem to be an attempt by AQIM not just to reinforce itself as the main jihadist group in the region, but also to show that it can spread its violent campaign to new frontiers.
Al-Qaeda in North Africa
Interior Minister Simon Compaore said 10 bodies had been found on the cafe terrace alone.
As the end of the siege at the Splendid was being announced, reports came in that militants had taken up position at the Yibi hotel, a short distance away. One attacker was killed at the Yibi, officials said later.
Remi Dandjinou, the Burkinabe communications minister, told the BBC earlier that between six and seven militants had attacked the Splendid, adding that they had been staying at the hotel as guests.
Mr Compaore said two black Africans and an Arab were among the militants killed.
Sourced From BBC
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