28 dead: Burkina Faso terror attack bloodier than told - Risingsuntv

As many as 28 people may have died in the terrorism
attacks today at the French embassy in Burkina Faso
and the country’s military headquarters, before being
repelled.
Although a government source said 16 attackers and
defenders died, the AFP learned unofficially that the
attacks may have been bloodier than the official
narrative, which earlier in the day had only admitted the
deaths of four of the attackers.
Terror attack:












Smoke billows from the Burkina Faso army
headquarters in Ouagadougou on Friday
Heavy gunfire broke out mid-morning in the centre of the
Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou.
Witnesses said five armed men got out of a car and
opened fire on passersby before heading towards the
French embassy. The car was later seen ablaze.













At the same time, an explosion occurred near the
headquarters of the Burkinabe armed forces and the
French cultural centre, which are located about a
kilometre (half a mile) from the site of the first attack,
other witnesses said.













A government source said 16 people — nine assailants
and seven members of the security forces — had died,
most of them in the attack on the military HQ. The army’s
medical chief, Colonel Amado Kafando, said 75 others
had been injured.












Three security sources, two in France and one in West
Africa, told AFP in Paris that at least 28 people were killed
in the attack on the military HQ alone.
French government sources said there had been no
French casualties and described the situation in
Ouagadougou as “under control”.














French military spokesman Colonel Patrick Steiger told
AFP said French forces in Burkina Faso “intervened in
support” of the local military but “did not directly take
part in the action.
“They went to the French embassy but the situation “was
already resolved when they arrived,” Steiger said.












The Paris public prosecutor’s office said it had opened a
formal investigation into “attempted murder in relation to
a terrorist enterprise”, an expected procedural step after
attacks targeting French citizens or interests.











– ‘Overtones of terrorism’ –
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Information Minister Remis Fulgance Dandjinou said the
attack “has strong overtones of terrorism”.
Burkina Faso has a history of military-backed coups as
well as of jihadist attacks.












The country is one of a group of fragile states on the
southern rim of the Sahara that are battling jihadist
groups.
The insurgency has caused thousands of deaths,
prompted tens of thousands to flee their homes and dealt
crippling blows to economies that are already among the
poorest in the world.
On August 13 last year, two assailants opened fire on a
restaurant on Ouagadougou’s main avenue, killing 19
people and wounding 21. The attack remains unclaimed.












On January 15 2016, 30 people, including six Canadians
and five Europeans, were killed in a jihadist attack on a
hotel and restaurant in the city centre.
Responsibility was claimed by a group called Al-Qaeda in
the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
NAN