French PM says 6 attackers at Burkina hotel, 3 on loose

The French prime minister said on Tuesday the remaining three gunmen were still at large following the terrorist attack that left at least 28 people dead in Burkina Faso.

Three jihadis, including an Arab and two black Africans, were killed in the assault on the Splendid hotel and the nearby cafe while a fourth extremist was killed at the Yibi hotel during a search by troops in nearby buildings.

French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui has died from injuries sustained in the Burkina Faso hotel attack, taking the death toll to 30.

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.

Mr Valls said that African democracies have become prime targets of Islamist jihadists.

On Monday, Beninois President Thomas Yayi Boni made a visit to Ouagadougou to show his solidarity with the people of Burkina Faso, following the tragedy.

It was AQIM’s first attack in Burkina Faso. “During the Ebola crisis, when it was hard to find people to do the digging, Mike would go out and join them so they could continue doing the work”, Anderson said.

Security forces freed 150 of those being held, but could not save the others.

The authorities in Burkina Faso say the bodies of three assailants have now been identified.

Born in 1982 in Paris, Alaoui was in Burkina Faso on assignment for Amnesty International, the international aid group, the New York Times reported.

AQIM said the assault was carried out by the al-Murabitoun battalion led by Algerian jihadi Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

The three gunmen were identified in the statement as Battar al-Ansari, Abu Muhammad al-Buqali al-Ansari and Ahmed al-Fulani al-Ansari.

“No one was prepared for these attacks”, he said. “We were trained for this”, said a gendarme military police source.

About 1am, about 50 security forces including the French, Burkinabe and an American tried to enter the hotel but were fired upon and one French special forces member was shot in the leg. The attackers then ambushed the Splendid Hotel next door.

Burkina Faso and Mali have agreed to work together to counter the growing threat of Islamic militants in West Africa by sharing intelligence and conducting joint security patrols following two deadly and well-coordinated attacks in the region.

Burkina’s public prosecutor Maiza Sereme said 15 foreigners were killed and gave a slightly different breakdown of the nationalities.