The statement offered Ghana’s heartfelt condolences to President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, relatives of the deceased victims, and the Burkinabe people, adding that “Ghana stands with its sister country in this hard time”.
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A foreign survivor of the assault to the Cafe Cappuccino is assisted in Ouagadougou on January 15, 2016.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on Monday named three gunmen involved in the assault.
Leila Alaoui, the French-Moroccan photographer and video artist known for her poetic and unsentimental images of daily life in the Mediterranean and Middle East, died last night from injuries sustained during last week’s terrorist attack in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso.
A terrorist siege at a Burkina Faso luxury ended on Saturday after security forces stormed the building. The boastful message then went on to say that the attack was a message “written by the heroes of Islam with their blood and body parts”, according to The New York Times. AQIM also claimed a similar attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako in November that killed 20 people.
“Three were killed and three are still being sought”.
The three gunmen were identified in the statement as Battar al-Ansari, Abu Muhammad al-Buqali al-Ansari and Ahmed al-Fulani al-Ansari.
The hotel and surrounding area became a battleground as local troops, backed by French forces based in the city under a regional counter-terrorism initiative, launched an attempt to retake the hotel around 2:00 am.
The exact details of the cooperation between Burkina Faso and Mali were not immediately clear, but the patrols and intelligence sharing mark an intent by the two countries to prevent the spread of militancy as AQIM and others expand operations in the region beyond their usual reach.
“He did more than drive us safely everywhere; he also joined in to help out during mission activities”. In response, the government condemned the attack and declared three days of national mourning.
Alaoui and her driver Mahamadi Ouedraogo were parked in a van outside the cafe, and both died as a result of the attack.
She was carrying out work “focusing on women’s rights” for the group.
In France, where she was born, President Francois Hollande paid his respects while parliament observed a minute of silence in memory of the dead.
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In another reminder of the country’s fragile security situation, an elderly Australian couple were kidnapped on Friday in the northern Baraboule region, near the border with Niger and Mali.
