Burkina Faso begins 3 days mourning after al-Qaida attack

Al-Qaida militants struck an upscale hotel and nearby cafe late Friday that are popular with Westerners in Burkina Faso’s capital, taking an unknown number of hostages and forcing others to hide for their lives as gunfire and explosions rang out.

The siege at the Splendid Hotel ended on Saturday morning after a joint operation by Burkina Faso and French security forces.

Among the victims from 18 different countries were the wife and 5-year-old daughter of the Italian man who owns the Cappuccino Cafe, where at least 10 people died in a hail of gunfire and smoke after the attackers set the building ablaze before moving on to the Splendid Hotel nearby.

Among those killed were six Canadians, two French nationals, two Swiss, an American, a Portuguese and a Dutch person, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The pair had been running a surgical clinic in the north of the country since 1972, and no reason has been given for their kidnapping, a statement from their family said. “He never stopped moving and never stopped helping”.

An audio tape later released by the al-Qaida group claiming responsibility for the carnage was entitled: “A Message Signed with Blood and Body Parts”.

“The South African government joins the worldwide community in strongly condemning the cowardly terrorist attacks that took place at a restaurant and a hotel in Ouagadougou… that resulted in the deaths and injuries of scores of innocent civilians”, President Jacob Zuma said in a statement.

On Sunday, French authorities were back at the scene carrying out a forensic investigation.

The attack, which began around 7:30 p.m. Friday, was the first of its kind in Burkina Faso, a largely Muslim country that had managed to avoid the kinds of jihadist attacks that have destabilized neighboring Mali since 2012. At least 33 more people were reportedly injured. Special forces from the former colonizer came during the overnight siege from their base in neighboring Mali to help Burkina Faso’s military put an end to the killings.

Meanwhile, two Austrian citizens, a doctor and his wife, have been kidnapped in northern Burkina Faso, the country’s security ministry said. The reports said the couple have lived since 1972 in Djibo, near Baraboule, where they work in a volunteer medical clinic which they built.