Footage has been released purporting to show one of the attackers who targeted a popular beach resort in Ivory Coast.
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“These terrorist attacks can happen anywhere, at any time”, Ouattara said Sunday after visiting the Etoile du Sud hotel, one of three hotels where gunmen opened fire.
Marcel Guy said he saw at least four gunmen with Kalashnikov rifles on the beach. One of the children then knelt and started praying. The six attackers were also killed, and “the situation is under control”, he said.
“Details gained from intercepted communications and human sources have revealed that Islamist groups are considering using auto bombs, attacking public areas popular with foreigners, and targeting beaches in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, which both have substantially more Western expatriates and visitors than the Sahelian countries previously targeted”, he said. A Ukrainian soldier serving with the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast was also hurt.
France’s President Francois Hollande, meanwhile, denounced the shootings in the former French colony as a “cowardly attack”.
Bloody bodies were sprawled on the beach before being taken away by security forces and Ivorian Red Cross workers.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement posted on a social media account tied to the group. A hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, was stormed in January; 126 people were taken hostage and about 20 people killed.
The spokesman said heightened security is in place around hotels and restaurants.
“I thought this was it for us”, she said. Sekongo, 25, said residents were hiding in their homes as security forces responded.
The French foreign affairs and interior ministers will go to Ivory Coast on Tuesday in solidarity, said the statement. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, sent the telegram to the bishop of Grand-Bassam, Monsignor Raymond Ahoua on Monday.
A branch of the global terrorist network al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a report by French broadcaster RFI.
A local tour guide told the news website France24.com that he saw attackers shooting on the beach, which was packed with tourists during a heat wave.
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Six assailants have been neutralized in the police operation so far, Ivory Coast’s Interior Ministry said. The president’s office condemned the attack and said, “We’ll pursue and intensify our cooperation with our partners in the fight against terrorism”.
