Burkina Faso attack: Foreigners killed at luxury hotel

BBC.COM | Sunday January 17, 2016 11:01

 

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has said it carried out the attack, which began on Friday night.

Six of those killed were from Canada, the country's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

Burkina Faso is to observe 72 hours of national mourning for the victims.

The siege at the Splendid Hotel was declared over after a joint operation by local and French security forces.

At least four attackers died in the assaults. There were claims that some of those involved were women.

As well as the luxury hotel, a cafe and another hotel nearby were targeted.

Burkinabe Security Minister Simon Compoare said 176 hostages had been rescued. The bodies of three 'very young' attackers had been found, he said.

Among those known to have died are:

- Six Canadian nationals - PM Justin Trudeau condemned what he called 'these senseless acts of violence on innocent civilians'

- Five Burkinabe citizens

- Two French nationals, with one more injured, according to France's government

- Two Swiss citizens who had been in the cafe which came under attack

- One 67-year-old Dutch volunteer, according to the Dutch foreign ministry

- An American missionary, Mike Riddering, whose death was announced by his wife Amy on Facebook and later confirmed by the State Department

In another development, the Burkina Faso government said a foreign doctor and his wife were kidnapped on Friday night in the north of the country, near the border with Mali. There was initial confusion over the pair's nationality - the Burkinabe government said they were Austrian, but later corrected this to Australian.

In November, an AQIM attack on a hotel in Bamako, capital of neighbouring Mali, left 19 people dead.