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At least 27 people killed after militants attack hotel and restaurant in Burkina Faso's capital

At least 27 people have been killed after al Qaeda militants struck at a top hotel and restaurant...
Newstalk
Newstalk

21.34 15 Jan 2016


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At least 27 people killed afte...

At least 27 people killed after militants attack hotel and restaurant in Burkina Faso's capital

Newstalk
Newstalk

21.34 15 Jan 2016


Share this article


At least 27 people have been killed after al Qaeda militants struck at a top hotel and restaurant in Burkina Faso's capital.

Security forces freed 126 hostages around 12 hours after the extremists launched the assaults on the Splendid Hotel and the Cappuccino Cafe across the road in Ouagadougou.

French ambassador Gilles Thibault said 27 people had been killed at the four-star hotel and restaurant, both popular with Westerners and UN staff. 

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Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Kabore earlier said the "partial death toll" in the "cowardly and vile" attacks was 23. 

The victims came from 18 different countries, security minister Simon Compaore said. Thirty-three hostages were also wounded.

Three attackers - two of them women - died at the Splendid Hotel, while a fourth was killed when security forces cleared out a second hotel nearby.

Al Qaeda of Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed responsibility, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

The assaults came as two Austrians, a doctor and his wife, were kidnapped in northern Burkina Faso, the security ministry said.

It was not immediately clear if the kidnapping was linked to the attacks.

Assaults

The jihadists launched the assaults in the capital at around 8.30pm local time on Friday.

They fired into the air to push back crowds and torched vehicles, witnesses said.

There were around five to seven attackers, according to witnesses.

Troops, supported by the French military, ended the siege at Splendid Hotel and the Cappuccino Cafe, on Saturday morning.

A woman who survived the restaurant assault told how she had to "play dead".

"We had just placed our meal orders in Cafe Cappuccino and around 15 minutes later we heard gunshots," she told the Associated Press, from hospital.

"They started to shoot at everyone. We dropped to the ground and as soon as anyone raised their heads they fired at them immediately. We had to play dead.

"They shook people by the foot to see if they were alive or not, and, if they were alive, they shot them.

"They were shooting on the ground floor and then went upstairs and shot downwards as well, and continued shooting.

"When they went upstairs they set the place on fire and left via the roof.

"The room was completely on fire and it was impossible to breathe."

Robert Sangare, the head of Yalgado Ouedraogo hospital in the city, told the AFP news agency that one European patient said the gunmen appeared to target white people.

Dozens of French special forces arrived overnight from neighbouring Mali to help.

A US defence official said one American military member was providing "advice and assistance" to French forces.

Burkina Faso, a largely Muslim country, has endured bouts of political turmoil since 2014 when veteran president Blaise Compaore was overthrown in a popular protest.

But the landlocked country has been largely spared violence by Islamist militants who have staged attacks in neighbouring Mali.

AQIM was behind a similar attack that left 20 dead at a luxury hotel in the Malian capital in November.


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