Ouagadougou: At least 26 people, many of them foreigners, were killed in an attack over-night on a top hotel in the capital of Burkina Faso, the latest country to be drawn into a regional jihadist battle against the west and its allies.
A total of 126 people were freed, 33 of them wounded, from the four-star Splendid hotel after security forces retook the facility and nearby Cappuccino restaurant on Saturday over 12 hours after the attack began, Interior Minister Simon Compaore.
The assault on the two venues, popular with Westerners and UN personnel, was crushed by midday but the police and military were still combing the area for other suspects, a security source said.
Communications Minister Remi Dandjinou gave a provisional figure of 26 killed and announced three days of mourning. The French foreign ministry gave a figure of 27 dead “and around 150 injured”.
Compaore said “three jihadists — an Arab and two black Africans — have been killed”. Four jihadists were killed, two of them women, and the victims were of 18 nationalities.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed the attack on behalf of an affiliate. Meanwhile, two Indians — Viraj and Satya — are among 126 people freed.
