At Least 20 Dead in Attack on Burkina Faso Hotel Claimed by al Qaeda Branch

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At least 20 people died and others were taken hostage when Islamist gunmen stormed a hotel in the capital city of Burkina Faso on Friday, an attack for which al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility

Security forces battled the attackers, who were holding hostages at the Splendid Hotel, used by foreigners in Ouagadougou, on Friday and into Saturday. The assailants also shot many people at nearby restaurant.

Robert Sangare, director of Ouagadougou's university hospital center has said that at least 20 people have died, according to France 24. Members of Burkina Faso's fire brigade found about 10 bodies on the terrace of the restaurant opposite the Splendid, the Interior Minister said on Saturday. Sources cited by local news outlets in the West African nation said that the attackers had also gunned down those who tried to flee from the hotel.

Witnesses to Friday's attack said that gunmen stormed the Splendid after burning cars outside and firing in the air to drive back crowds. According to a hotel employee interviewed by leFaso.net, three gunmen wearing turbans entered the hotel shooting after setting a number of vehicles alight. A vehicle carrying security personnel arrived and shortly afterward an intense gun battle began.

The four-star hotel is very close to the city's international airport. The hotel is often used by UN staff and Westerners, witnesses cited by the BBC said. The hotel is also sometimes used by French troops with Operation Barkhane, a force based in Chad that is charged with fighting Islamist militants across Africa's vast Sahel region.

"It is continuing at this time," a senior official with the national gendarmes said of the situation on Friday night local time, asking not to be named. "We are trying to know how many attackers they are to better coordinate our actions. Hostages have been taken. The operation could take several hours."

Medical personnel evacuated people who had been wounded during a lull in the shooting, a witness told Reuters. Gunshots resumed after roughly an hour.

Security forces launched an assault in the early morning on Saturday to recapture the hotel, a Reuters witness said. Two groups of security forces entered the main lobby of the hotel and there was reportedly no gunfire as they went in. Part of the lobby was on fire, the witness said, apparently as a result of explosives used by commandos who stormed the building, according to the AP. The commandos are working to free an unknown number of hostages.

Alpha Barry, the country's foreign minister, had earlier told Reuters in a phone interview that security forces had secured a perimeter around the hotel and were awaiting an order to begin the assault. He added that the government has not ruled out calling for help from French special forces stationed in the country.

A US defense official said that France had requested U.S. intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support in the city, noting that at least one US military member in Burkina Faso was giving "advice and assistance" to French forces at the hotel.

There are about 75 US military personnel in Burkina Faso.

A message published online late Friday by the media branch of al Mourabitoun, a West African terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Islamist group said last May that it was holding a Romanian man who had been kidnapped from a mine in northern Burkina Faso the previous month. Al Mourabitoun pledged allegiance last year to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

This is the first time Islamist militants have carried out an assault in the capital of Burkina Faso. The country has a population that is around 60 percent Muslim, according to government figures. It would present a significant challenge to President Roch Marc Kabore, who was elected in November as Burkina Faso's first new leader almost 30 years.

French daily Le Parisien said that local sources have reported seeing several bodies in the Cappuccino café, which is located across from the hotel. The newspaper also said an Air France flight approaching Ouagadougou was rerouted.

The French ambassador has referred to the situation as "a terror attack," and is warning people to avoid the neighborhood. The French embassy has also set up a crisis hotline.

Related: Burkina Faso's Ousted Interim President Is Back in Office After Attempted Coup

— Moëz BHAR (@moezbhar)January 15, 2016

The video embedded in this tweet appears to show the scene of the attack, including audible gunfire.

Islamist militants have staged attacks in a number of West African states bordering the Sahel in recent years.

Two militants killed 20 people from nations including Russia, China and the United States at a luxury hotel in Mali's capital on November 20 before being killed by security forces. Three Islamist groups, including AQIM, claimed responsibility for that attack, which was the most prominent by militants based in the north of the country who have staged a series of attacks over the last year.

Around 50 unidentified gunmen attacked a Burkina Faso gendarmerie brigade near the country's western border with Mali last October, killing three in an attack the then government blamed on the leaders of a failed coup one month before. The French embassy warned its citizens in December against traveling to a national park in eastern Burkina Faso after reports that Malian jihadists were threatening to kidnap foreigners.

Al Mourabitoun is one of several Islamist militant groups operating in West Africa. The group's operational leader is Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar. The group formed in 2013 after Belmokhtar's Mulathamun Battalion linked up with the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO). After the merger the militants took on the name al Mourabitoun in reference to the Berber Muslim dynasty dating back to the 11th century in northwestern Africa.

Belmokhtar, a former leader within al Qaeda, was reportedly killed by American attacks in Libya last June. Shortly after the supposed killing, however, AQIM refuted these claims and said Belmokhtar was alive. The group saw some fracturing last year when MUJAO senior official Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi said he was leaving to ally himself with the Islamic State.