This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/world/africa/standoff-in-burkina-faso-ends-with-many-dead.html

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Standoff in Burkina Faso Ends With 28 Dead Deadly Standoff Leaves Burkina Faso Stunned
(about 1 hour later)
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — A 15-hour standoff between armed assailants and security forces in a hotel and cafe here frequented by Westerners came to an end Saturday morning, with 28 people dead and dozens more wounded, officials said. At least three assailants were killed and 126 hostages were freed in the operation to retake the hotel. OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Terror came to this sleepy city this weekend, as armed fighters descended on a road nicknamed the Champs-Élysées, where friends meet for coffee and foreigners relax in a familiar hotel. After a 15-hour siege, the assailants left behind more than the dead and wounded scattered across the charred road amid shell casings.
Gunfire raged through the night as armed forces from Burkina Faso, assisted by French and American forces, stormed the popular downtown area near the Splendid Hotel and Cappuccino Cafe where attackers suspected of belonging to an affiliate of Al Qaeda had set off explosives and shot hotel guests and people out for coffee; the victims were from a total of 18 nations. The rampage at the Splendid Hotel and Cappuccino Cafe here in the capital forced this nation to face the awful realization that the violent Islamic extremism that it for years avoided finally had crept across its borders.
At a news conference in front of the presidential palace here, Prime Minister Paul Kaba Thieba said the attacks downtown were part of a coordinated rampage that militants had begun throughout the country. Early on Friday, near the Malian border, a police convoy was attacked, killing a civilian and a police officer. Next, near the northern town of Djibo, an Australian doctor and his wife were kidnapped, and their whereabouts were still unknown. Twenty-eight people were killed and 56 were wounded in the attack that loudly announced the end to a long, mostly peaceful stretch in Burkina Faso.
It was unclear on Saturday how many people were responsible for the hotel attack. Mr. Thieba said there were three assailants. Witnesses reported seeing a woman among the attackers, but he could not confirm that. The mayhem at the center of town here carried out by at least three militants followed two other related episodes near the border with Mali, government officials said. In one, gunmen attacked a police convoy, killing two people. Also in the north of the country, an Australian couple was kidnapped.
Mr. Thieba appealed to the nation to stay vigilant to help the security forces neutralize what he said could be sleeper cells of terrorists waiting to carry out more attacks in this country, which has been largely free of violence tied to radical Islam. Officials blamed an affiliate of Al Qaeda for the attacks, dragging this tiny nation into the global war on terrorism, where governments struggle to combat jihadists who blow up restaurants and storm into concerts and shopping malls, guns blazing.
“These attacks aim to threaten our liberty and harm innocent civilians,” he said, calling for flags to be lowered for three days in memory of the victims. “We need to track the terrorists whose goal is to threaten democracy and who want to bring chaos to this country.” And so on Saturday, in the wake of the attacks, the nation’s leaders delivered speeches in Ouagadougou (pronounced wah-gah-DOO-goo), denouncing terrorism and the loss of lives, in a familiar day-after mantra.
Yet the words of the newly elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, had a particular sting as the nation that just congratulated itself for a peaceful democratic election faced a startling crisis.
“For the first time in history our country was the victim of a series of barbarous terrorist attacks, ignoble and on a scale without precedence and an unheard-of cowardice,” Mr. Kaboré said.
“The struggle against terrorism,” he said, “is now part of our daily life.”
The attack on the Splendid Hotel was the latest in a series of assaults on so-called soft targets that terrorists have begun employing at an alarmingly rapid clip in recent weeks, unleashing mayhem in mundane settings of everyday life across the world.The attack on the Splendid Hotel was the latest in a series of assaults on so-called soft targets that terrorists have begun employing at an alarmingly rapid clip in recent weeks, unleashing mayhem in mundane settings of everyday life across the world.
A shopping mall and cafe in Iraq, a terrace outside a Starbucks in Indonesia, a public square near the Blue Mosque in Turkey and other attacks on hotels popular with Westerners and local elites in both Egypt and Mali have all become battlefields.A shopping mall and cafe in Iraq, a terrace outside a Starbucks in Indonesia, a public square near the Blue Mosque in Turkey and other attacks on hotels popular with Westerners and local elites in both Egypt and Mali have all become battlefields.
Organized by affiliates of both the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, the attacks indicate a seeming competition between the groups for initiating spectacular attacks intended to attract attention as well as more recruits. Until now, Al Qaeda’s regional affiliate has carried out minor attacks in Burkina Faso, but it has for the most part trained its sights on Algeria and Mali.
But Friday night’s assault played out with one crucial difference: Unlike the other countries where gunmen have wreaked havoc, landlocked Burkina Faso, which hosts both American and French military bases, has experienced relatively few attacks carried out by Islamic fundamentalists. Al Qaeda’s regional affiliate has carried out minor attacks in Burkina Faso, but has for the most part trained its sights on Algeria and Mali. The chaos that erupted Friday night in Ouagadougou was an affront to everyday life in this city with a nightly curfew, where order reigns, evident even in the shirts in roadside markets displayed carefully on hangars and parked bicycles and scooters spaced apart just so.
The chaos that erupted Friday night in Ouagadougou, the capital, was an affront to everyday life in this bustling city where order reigns, as evidenced by the shirts in roadside markets displayed carefully on hangars and parked bicycles and scooters spaced evenly apart. “It’s shocking,” said Alexandre Sanfo, the general director of Blaise Compaoré Hospital, which treated dozens of the people wounded in the attacks.
“It’s shocking,” said Alexandre Sanfo, the general director of Blaise Compaoré Hospital, which treated dozens of the more than 56 people wounded in the attack.
Mr. Sanfo said the nation was known for its religious tolerance and its warm welcome to foreigners. He recited a local saying that all Burkinabes give up their beds and sleep on the floor when guests arrive in their homes.Mr. Sanfo said the nation was known for its religious tolerance and its warm welcome to foreigners. He recited a local saying that all Burkinabes give up their beds and sleep on the floor when guests arrive in their homes.
“I’m afraid now that people will be suspicious of each other, especially of Muslims,” he said.“I’m afraid now that people will be suspicious of each other, especially of Muslims,” he said.
On Friday night, David Kokuvi was at the Cappuccino Cafe with friends when explosions rang out. “Everyone said: ‘Get down! Get down!’ ” said Mr. Kokuvi, 43, from his hospital bed, where he was awaiting surgery for a bullet wound to his shoulder. On Friday night, David Kokuvi was at the Cappuccino Cafe with friends when explosions rang out. “Everyone said:, ‘Get down! Get down!’ ” said Mr. Kokuvi, 43, from his hospital bed, where he was awaiting surgery for a bullet wound to his shoulder.
The force blew him to the floor, and the cafe filled with smoke. He felt blood on his head as he tried to crawl through the smoke to the exit. Mr. Kokuvi did not see the assailants, who had come inside and started shooting. When he stumbled outside, still half crawling, he saw bodies everywhere. He could not tell if the people were dead. The force blew him to the floor, and the cafe filled with smoke, which he crawled through to get to an exit. He never saw the fighters who had rushed inside and started shooting.
Mr. Kokuvi made it over a wall near the cafe where an ambulance was nearby. He still does not know if his friends made it out alive. “I’m worried,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. When he stumbled outside, still half crawling, he saw bodies everywhere. He could not tell if the people were dead.
Witnesses said that the attackers in the cafe joined others in the hotel, where they opened fire. Mr. Kokuvi still does not know if his friends made it out alive. “I’m worried,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Clément Sawadogo, a government minister, was in a fourth-floor meeting when he heard shots ring out. He dropped to the ground and lay still as attackers entered the room, shooting two or three people, he said. He was still playing dead when one returned, shooting apparently to make sure those who were on the floor were dead. Dozens of people were held hostage in the Splendid as chaos broke out on the street and the assailants barged in.
Edward Bunker, an American health worker for a nongovernmental organization, told the BBC that he fled the lobby after hearing gunshots and retreated to his room, where he hunkered down with his computer in the bathroom, taking guidance from a security consultant he contacted using the hotel’s Wi-Fi. He spent the night there until French soldiers, who assisted Burkina Faso’s forces, stormed the hotel, arriving at his room.
Clément Sawadogo, a government minister, was in a fourth-floor meeting inside the hotel when he heard shots ring out. He dropped to the ground and lay still as attackers entered the room, shooting two or three people, he said. He was still playing dead when one returned to shoot the bodies, apparently to make sure that those who were on the floor were really dead.
Somehow, Mr. Sawadogo said, he was spared.Somehow, Mr. Sawadogo said, he was spared.