Attackers, soldiers killed in Burkina Faso terrorist attack

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso—Eight attackers and seven members of the security forces were killed during a terrorist attack on Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, the government said on Friday.

Four attackers were killed at the offices of the army chief of staff, while four others were killed at the nearby French Embassy, the communication ministry said in a statement.

The attack was over and the army and special forces had ended their counterterrorism operation, according to government. The death toll of 15 did not yet include the number of civilians killed in the attack.

Security minister Clement Sawadogo gave local radio station Omega a different death toll, saying that eight attackers and eight security forces had been killed, while about 80 people were injured, some of them severely.

Earlier on Friday, government spokesman Remis Dandjinou called the assault a “terrorist” attack, without specifying who the attackers were believed to be.

Unknown armed men started shooting machine guns on Friday at about 10 a.m., targeting the prime minister’s office, the army chief of staff’s building and the French Embassy in central Ouagadougou.

Soldiers and special forces then encircled the buildings and were combing through the area in search of more suspects, according to a dpa reporter on the scene.

France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs recommended that French residents of Ouagadougou stay confined to a safe place, suspend all travel in town and comply with instructions by local authorities.

A dpa reporter on the scene said smoke was coming out of the army chief of staff’s office, while several ambulances drove into the building.

A witness told dpa he saw five attackers get out of a car and fire machine guns at people on Friday morning before proceeding in the direction of the French embassy.

The reason for the shooting remained unclear.

Soldiers, meanwhile, were guarding the army chief of staff’s building, the prime minister’s office and French Embassy.

The West African nation has been exposed to Islamist violence emanating from Mali and suffered several attacks in recent years.

In August 2017, an attack on a restaurant in Ouagadougou left 18 people dead. In 2016, about 30 people were killed when Islamist extremists attacked a cafeteria in the capital.