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

The attack in Ouagadougou-the capital of Burkina Faso, which has been claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)-took place on Friday outside the Cappuccino Cafe and the Splendid Hotel, popular with ex-pats and United Nations workers. “It is true that a similar incident had occurred recently in Mali, near our country, and many said that Burkina Faso could be targeted by terrorists”, Father Oscar Zoungrana, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies (PMS) in Burkina Faso, told Fides news agency.

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

A statement signed by Hanna Serwaa Tetteh, Foreign Affairs Minister, said Ghana was ready to enhance its cooperation and work together to see an end to such terrorist threats.

Michael Riddering, from Hollywood Community Church in Florida, also was killed in the attack.

Military spokesman Capt. Guy Herve Ye on Monday said, however, that they have clearly identified three attackers and are investigating what they thought was a fourth. “It’s God who saved us because these people had the time to carry out their crime”, he said. “And especially countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and Tunisia, which represent democracy and calm” on the continent.

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

Natacha Ble, a 23-year-old waitress from Ivory Coast who had been working at the restaurant Taxi Brousse across the street for only a few weeks, said she saw the three men coming but never imagined they were jihadis, saying they looked more like traditional herders from the Peul ethnic group than Islamist militants.

Three attackers have been killed in the assault and three others are still on the run, he said without elaborating.

Photographer and visual artist Leila Alaoui had traveled to Burkina Faso to work on the kind of project she loved.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says the Mounties will assist officials with victim identification and paperwork so the bodies of Canadian victims can be returned home.

The day before the Burkina Faso attack, another Quebec resident who was on a humanitarian trip, Tahar Amer-Ouali, was killed in a suicide bombing in Jakarta.

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.

Several relief groups and Canadian mining companies say people interested in relocating to the fraught region of the world typically understand and accept the risks involved.