At least 28 people, including foreign guests, have been killed in an attack on a hotel in Burkina Faso, according to CNN.
An unknown number of heavily armed masked militants stormed the Splendid Hotel and took hostages Friday evening in the capital, Ouagadougou. The hotel is popular among U.N. and western diplomats, as well as western journalists.
Security forces started a retaliatory operation a few hours after the attack. They rescued nearly 60 hostages by early Saturday morning.
"We heard shots, grenades, detonations. It was echoing and extremely loud. It went on for a long time. They kept coming back and forth into Cappuccino. You'd think it was over, then they'd come back and shoot more people," a survivor told CBC News.
Citing witness, @rcallimachi says assault at #SplendidHotel still ongoing;Burkinabe soldiers w/ help French Soldiers pic.twitter.com/Ph0GK8wQmO
— Rodrigo Barbosa (@RodaLarga) January 16, 2016
Remis Dandjinou, minister of communications, said that public service and labour minister Clement Sawadogo was among the rescued hostages, according to Reuters.
An Al Qaeda-linked African terror outfit - al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) - claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, the SITE Intelligence Group said in a statement.
Latest AQIM statement indicates the hotel was targeted because it was "frequented by staff of the nations of global disbelief" — Rukmini Callimachi (@rcallimachi) January 16, 2016
"Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed credit for the raid at the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, reporting its execution by the recently-joined al-Murabitoon Battalion," the global terrorism monitoring group said, according to Xinhua. Read the complete SITE statement here.
Citing conversations with the fighters in Splendid Hotel in #BurkinaFaso, #AQIM says 30 "Crusaders" dead, operation is revenge for Prophet
— SITE Intel Group (@siteintelgroup) January 16, 2016
