Nation tightens security after deadly al Qaeda attack

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The nation began three days of national mourning Sunday and the president said security will be stepped up in the capital and at the country’s borders after al Qaeda militants in a vehicle from neighboring Niger killed at least 28 people in an attack on a hotel and cafe popular with foreigners.

In a message to the nation, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said the people of Burkina Faso must unite in the fight against terrorism. He also announced that security forces would be stepping up their efforts to thwart future attacks and asked people to comply with the new restrictions.

“These truly barbaric criminal acts carried out against innocent people, claimed by the criminal organization al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb seek to destabilize our country and its republican institutions, and to undermine efforts to build a democratic, quiet and prosperous nation,” Kabore said.

The national mourning began Sunday, a day after Burkinabe and French forces ended a more than 12-hour siege at the upscale Splendid Hotel in downtown Ouagadougou. When the gunfire and explosions finally stopped, authorities said 18 were killed in the hotel and 10 were killed at the nearby Cappuccino Cafe.

The toll includes seven citizens of Burkina Faso, six Canadians, two Ukrainians, two Swiss, two French and one each from the U.S., Holland, Portugal and Libya, according to officials. Other bodies were being identified.

The American — Michael Riddering, 45, of Cooper City, Fla. — had been working as a missionary in Burkina Faso since 2011, where he and his wife ran an orphanage that also provided shelter to abused women and widows. He is survived by his four children, two of whom were adopted from Burkina Faso.

Riddering was “a wonderful, godly man” who managed to find spare time to help teams of volunteers from other organizations who dug wells for local residents, said John Anderson, a board member of Sheltering Wings, Riddering’s charity.

Swiss authorities said its two nationals who were killed were also in Burkina Faso for humanitarian reasons.

Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the carnage in an audiotape titled: “A Message Signed with Blood and Body Parts.”