Gunmen have attacked a hotel used by westerners in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, taking hostages and reportedly killing at least 20 people.

Eyewitnesses said two car bombs went off outside the Splendid hotel at around 19:30 local time (same as GMT).

Three to four masked men then stormed the Splendid Hotel, which is used by UN staff and westerners, witnesses said.

Robert Sangare, a hospital director in the city, said at least 20 people had died and 15 more wounded.

Witnesses said soon after 01:00 that an operation to free hostages from the hotel was under way. Part of the hotel was on fire, they reported.

Foreign Minister Alpha Barry had earlier said he would not rule out the co-operation of French troops.

One group that monitors jihadist networks said al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghrebclaimed it was behind the attack.

Witnesses said the gunmen had initially entered the Cappuccino cafe near the hotel. One employee at the cafe told Agence France Presse that “several people” had been killed there.

Eyewitnesses reported hearing exchanges of gunfire between the men and security forces, as well as sporadic gunfire from inside the four-star hotel, which is close to the country’s international airport.

Image copyright: AFP/Getty ImagesImage captionBurkinabe soldiers are stationed outside the Hotel Splendid

In the latest developments:

• The US military, that has some 75 staff in Burkina Faso, said it was ready to help French troops at the hotel
• France’s ambassador to Burkina Faso, Gilles Thibault, says a curfew is in place until 06:00 local time

Who is the group responsible?

Image copyright: APImage captionTwenty people died in an attack by al-Murabitoun and al-Qaeda on a Mali hotel in November

The SITE monitoring group, which analyses jihadist networks, said al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed it was behind the attack.

The monitoring group specifically stated that those responsible were the al-Murabitoun group, which is based in the Sahara desert in northern Mali and contains fighters loyal to the veteran Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

Last month, the group announced it had merged with AQIM. Belmokhtar, a one-eyed commander who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s, was once a member of AQIM but left after a falling-out with its leadership.

Belmokhtar has been declared dead many times, the latest by a US air strike on 14 June last year in Libya – according to Libyan authorities – but his death has not been formally confirmed.

AQIM and al-Murabitoun said they were behind an attack on a hotel in Burkina Faso’s neighbour Mali in November, that left 20 people dead.

Who are al-Murabitoun?

Burkina Faso had recently held its first presidential election since a coup earlier last year.

That coup toppled long-time leader Blaise Compaore, who had governed for 27 years.

“We are still in a context of political fragility, so I think the timing of this attack is meaningful,” Cynthia Ohayon, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, told the BBC from Ouagadougou.

“The country has long borders with Mali and Niger, and we know there are armed groups present on the border, so this was probably something we had coming.”

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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35330169

Burkina Faso attack: ‘At least 20 dead’ in Ouagadougou hotel | The Millennium Report

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