17 dead in Burkina Faso bistro ‘terrorist attack’
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO — Seventeen people have been killed and eight injured in a “terrorist attack” on a restaurant in Burkina Faso’s capital, the government said Monday.
Witnesses said three gunmen arrived at a Turkish restaurant in a pickup truck on Sunday evening and opened fire on customers seated outside.
The government then launched a counter-assault, with gunfire heard into the night.
“A terrorist attack at Istanbul restaurant on Ouagadougou’s Kwame Nkrumah Avenue claimed 17 victims, their nationalities are yet to be confirmed, and eight people are injured,” a government statement said.
Communication minister Remis Dandjinou said it was not known how many assailants were involved.
“They are confined to one part of the building they attacked. Security and elite forces are conducting an operation,” he said on television.
A paramedic told AFP that one of the victims was a Turkish national.
“We evacuated 11 people but one of them, a Turk, died on arriving at hospital,” the paramedic said, declining to be named.
Police evacuated civilians from the area before launching the counter- assault, with the heavy exchange of fire becoming more sporadic as the operation went on.
One soldier had said there were hostages on the first and second floor of the two-storey building housing the Turkish restaurant.
The mayor of Ouagadougou and government ministers were on the scene, he added.
Burkina Faso, a poor landlocked nation bordering Mali and Niger, has seen a string of attacks claimed by jihadist groups in recent years. — AFP