Burkina Faso: At least 17 killed in restaurant attack

At least 18 people have been killed in an attack by suspected Islamist militants at a restaurant popular with foreigners in the capital of Burkina Faso.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assault on Sunday night in Ouagadougou. The communications minister, Remis Dandjinou, said 18 people had been killed, both Burkinabes and foreigners, with about 10 injured.

Security forces killed two assailants in a counter-assault that went on until Monday morning. It was not clear how many gunmen were involved.

Dandjinou had earlier said that “some people were held” by the assailants and that “some were released”, but gave no further details.

Turkey said one of its citizens was among the dead, while Paris prosecutors said at least one French national died.
Analysts say a coalition of jihadist groups formed last month is the prime suspect. The alliance includes al-Qaida in the Maghreb (AQIM), one of the most tenacious and effective offshoots of the extremist organisation.

A government statement described the latest deadly shooting as a terrorist attack, while President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré condemned it as “a despicable attack that has Ouagadougou in mourning”.

“The fight against terrorism is a long-term struggle,” he said on Twitter.

Guy Ye, a police captain, said three or four assailants had arrived at the restaurant on motorbikes at about 9pm, armed with AK-47s, and began shooting at diners.

One woman said she was in the restaurant celebrating her brother’s birthday when the shooting started. “I just ran but my brother was left inside,” she told Reuters.

Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation in west Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. It appeared to have escaped the worst of the wave of Islamist militant violence that has swept other parts of west Africa and the Sahel in recent years, including neighbouring Mali, but since 2015 has been increasingly targeted by militant groups.

In January last year 30 people died in an assault by AQIM-linked extremists on a hotel popular with UN staff and foreigners in Ouagadougou. The three attackers were of foreign origin, according to AQIM, which claimed responsibility in the aftermath along with the jihadist group al-Mourabitoun.

The two groups have now combined with a third in a coalition. Though based in Mali, the new alliance has already struck neighbouring countries and claimed one attack in Burkina Faso last month.

“It is very difficult to say definitively who is responsible for this new attack but precedent would suggest the involvement of AQIM,” said Ryan Cummings, a security expert based in South Africa.

Cummings said AQIM has the motive – Burkina Faso has been supportive of French military operations against jihadists in the region and also hosts French interests – and is one of few groups with the capacity to carry out such an assault.

A new force of 2,800 troops from local states supported by the French and focused on border security is due to begin operations later this month.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, condemned the assault, calling it a terrorist attack.

One factor driving the violence in the region is the rivalry between jihadist factions. The new alliance is aimed at overcoming “political and ethnic differences and presenting a united facade”, said Cummings.

Other factors include the activities of criminal networks, tensions between pastoralists and farmers, political vendettas and ethnic rivalries.

There is also a homegrown terror threat in Burkina Faso, from a local preacher, Ibrahim Malam Dicko, who radicalised his followers and has claimed recent deadly attacks against troops and civilians.

Last month five people were killed in a series of attacks launched by Dicko’s group in the northern province of Soum.