Their prime ministers met on Sunday, two days after al Qaeda militants seized the Splendid Hotel in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, opened fire on a restaurant and attacked another hotel nearby, killing at least 28 people from at least seven countries, and wounding 50 other people. Burkina Faso’s security minister, Simon Compaore, said on Tuesday that several people had been detained and questioned but he declined to give further details, citing the ongoing investigation.
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French Ambassador Gilles Thibault said Monday that about 30 people were dead in addition to the three attackers who were killed by French forces.
The Moroccan photographer, who was having dinner at Cappuccino restaurant when the assault started, was among those evacuated by the Burkinabe security forces from the hotel. “We are deeply saddened by these senseless acts of violence on innocent civilians”.
It published photos of the three young gunmen dressed in military fatigues and wielding weapons, identifying them as Battar al-Ansari, Abu Muhammad al-Buqali al-Ansari and Ahmed al-Fulani al-Ansari.
The attack began around 7:45 pm (1945 GMT) on Friday when the attackers stormed the 147-room Splendid Hotel in the heart of Ouagadougou. Burkina Faso’s authorities are now concerned that its long desert border with Mali could become a transit point for militants.
“Three were killed and three are still being sought”.
According to Olga Bogorad, an Africa intelligence analyst at Max Security Solutions, a consulting firm, AQIM released a statement during the Ouagadougou attacks that reiterated the group’s loyalty to Al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. Riddering arrived early and was in the cafe with a local pastor; when the attack started, they ran in different directions, Boyle said. The six were traveling together as part of a humanitarian mission, and four them were from the same family.
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The mother of one of the six Quebec victims in the deadly Burkina Faso terrorist attack has called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to keep Canadian fighter planes involved in the war on terrorism the Middle East. “We need to train our armed forces for this type of combat”, Kabore said Monday.
