Gunmen Kill 18 at Restaurant in Burkina Faso
As of Monday afternoon, no one had claimed responsibility for the attack at Aziz Istanbul,
but it bears the hallmarks of other assaults by Qaeda affiliates operating in the Sahel region, according to Andrew Lebovich, a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations who has studied the groups.
"Burkina Faso will recover from this ordeal because its valiant people will oppose uncompromising resistance to terrorism
and to all enemies of democracy and the progress of our homeland." His sentiments were repeated by other leaders in the region, as well as by the president of France, who all issued statements denouncing terrorism and supporting Burkina Faso.
14, 2017
DAKAR, Senegal — At least 18 people were killed in Burkina Faso when gunmen stormed a popular cafe
and sprayed diners with bullets, including a family celebrating a 9-year-old’s birthday, the authorities said Monday.
The assault on Sunday evening in Ouagadougou, the capital, was eerily similar to an attack in January
2016, when gunmen killed dozens of people at a hotel and a restaurant on a busy weekend evening.
"Targeting civilians in more cosmopolitan locations generates far more media coverage than attacking U.N. peacekeepers." A South African
tourist who was abducted nearly six years ago from an inn in Timbuktu, Mali, by the North African branch of Al Qaeda was freed recently.
Officials said the gunmen in Sunday’s attack arrived at the Aziz Istanbul cafe by motorcycle around 9 p.m.,
and first opened fire on patrons in an outdoor area before moving inside.
