Burkina Faso Attack: Police Kill Three Jihadist

Remi Dandjinou, Burkina Faso Communications Minister, said on Monday that three suspected jihadist attackers at a restaurant in central Ouagadougou, have been killed by the country’s security forces.

17 people were killed and a dozen injured in a terrorist attack on a Turkish restaurant in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.

Advertisement

“A terrorist attack at Istanbul restaurant on Ouagadougou’s Kwame Nkrumah Avenue claimed 17 victims, their nationalities are yet to be confirmed,” a government statement on Monday said, adding that 12 people had been injured.

Witnesses said three gunmen arrived at a Turkish restaurant in a pickup truck on Sunday evening and opened fire on customers seated outside.

The government then launched a counter-assault, with gunfire heard into the night, till about 3 a.m, according to the AFP.

“This is a terrorist attack,” Dandjinou told a news conference, adding that some people were still people trapped inside the building where the jihadist were killed.

Advertisement

He said security forces are seeking to free people still trapped inside.

“They are confined to one part of the building they attacked. Security and elite forces are conducting an operation,” he said on television.

A paramedic said one of the victims was a Turkish national. Some other reports said a French national was also among the victims.

“We evacuated 11 people but one of them, a Turk, died on arriving at hospital,” the paramedic said, declining to be named.

Burkina Faso has been targeted by jihadist groups operating across Africa’s Sahel.

Advertisement

Thirty people were killed when gunmen, believed to be al Qaeda, attacked a restaurant and hotel in Ouagadougou in January 2016.

Leave a comment

Advertisement