22 victims of Burkina Faso hotel attack identified

Six Quebecers on a humanitarian mission were killed in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou last week during an attack carried out by al-Qaida.

Speaking during a question and answer session in parliament, Valls said six individuals opened fire on unarmed patrons at Le Cappuccino cafe before taking refuge at the nearby Splendid Hotel where they held several hostages.

Tributes poured in Tuesday for well-known Franco-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui, who was severely wounded in the attack and late Monday became the 30th and latest victim of the bloody attack.

At the site Monday, forensic experts and investigators from France and Burkina Faso, dressed in white, filled the brown dusty street, gathering evidence in secured areas near the hotel and the Cappuccino Cafe.

The French ambassador to Burkina Faso, Gilles Thibault, told journalists it would be a surprise if the different attacks on the same day were not linked in some way.

“They’re the meekest, best people on the earth, but their neighboring countries have terrorists”, Riddering said.

Burkina Faso’s security minister, Simon Compaore, said Sunday 32 people were dead, including three jihadis.

Barry cited the success of global cooperation during the attack that began Friday and ended Saturday after Burkina Faso and French forces killed three attackers.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a Salafi-jihadist militant group not aligned with the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the killings.

“There’s ample room for special and conventional forces, let alone we helped the French with the C-17”, he said, referring to the Conservative government’s use of Canadian heavy-lift transports to move French troops to Mali in the early winter of 2013.

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”.

“Our men were raring to go”.

“The mining industry as such is in an economic lull or downturn so there are a lot of people who are trained in the mining industry who are without employment at the moment”, she said. “We had equipment issues”. In September, presidential guards attempted a coup.

Al-Ansari is a nom de guerre that usually designates somebody from northern Mali, although it might just indicate where the brigade is based or originates from.