Paris – Tributes poured in on Tuesday following the death of a Franco-Moroccan photographer, the 30th and latest victim of a bloody attack by al-Qaeda gunmen on a top Burkina Faso hotel.
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Maude Carrier was one of six aid workers from Quebec killed on Friday when a group of Islamist terrorists stormed a luxury hotel and cafe in the capital city of Ouagadougou.
Among the 30 killed were three French nationals, he added.
The death toll rose to 29 Monday as French culture minister Fleur Pellerin announced the death of Leila Alaoui, a 33-year-old French-Moroccan photographer who had been in Burkina Faso while on assignment for Amnesty International.
At the site Monday, forensic experts and investigators from France and Burkina Faso, dressed in white, filled the brown dusty street, gathering evidence in secured areas near the hotel and the Cappuccino Cafe.
“Before there used to be clear hot spots, but now it’s becoming countries like Burkina Faso, which were doing fairly well” Mirza said.
Authorities in Ouagadougou said the bodies of three assailants had been identified, but several witnesses have said they saw more than three attackers.
A group of missionaries from South Florida are returning from Burkina Faso following a number of deadly terror attacks linked to Al-Qaeda.
A source close to the investigation said 20 people were arrested on Sunday and Monday in connection with the attack, which killed more than a dozen foreigners.
“Following the barbaric attack by the jihadists allied to the Al-Qaida in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) some angry civilians began attacking people with a long beard or those who had covered their heads with scarfs” Compaore said.
President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who was elected in November, said the Burkinabé people were in shock from the attack.
The three gunmen were identified in the statement as Battar al-Ansari, Abu Muhammad al-Buqali al-Ansari and Ahmed al-Fulani al-Ansari.
“We know it is just going to be different from now on”, said Ousmane Sawadogo, a cell-phone seller some 200 meters (218 yards) from the Splendid Hotel which was attacked Friday night.
“That’s why Canada remains committed to the coalition against terrorists and to working with other countries on a humanitarian basis and in order to help refugees but also to show military commitment”, he said.
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Around 1 a.m., about 50 security forces including the French, Burkinabe and an American tried to enter the hotel but were fired upon and one French special forces member took a bullet in the leg.
