Six Canadians killed in Burkina Faso

 

Six Canadian aid workers and volunteers from Quebec are among those killed after a prolonged attack by Islamic extremists in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou.

There were 28 people of 18 nationalities killed and 56 others wounded after a 15-hour siege that ended Saturday night at a hotel popular with international business travellers on the busy Avenue Kwame Nkrumah in the city’s centre, what one Paris-based newspaper dubbed the Champs-Élysées of Ouagadougou.

Late Saturday, Global Affairs Canada released a statement extending condolences to the family and friends of those killed in the Ouagadougou attack.

The identities of the six Canadians remained unknown late Saturday night.

“Canada condemns in the strongest terms any act that threatens the safety of civilians, including those who strive to improve the lives of vulnerable people around the world,” said the statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion and Minister of International Development and La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau. “Working in challenging and dangerous situations, their efforts to create lasting ties between peoples while building a more just and peaceful world will never cease.”

Fire and smoke rising from Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou where an operation against suspected Islamist fighters holding hostages ended Saturday.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard also condemned the attacks in a statement Saturday night, and offered his condolences to the affected families.

“There can be no justification for such a gratuitous and cowardly act,” he said.

The statement from Ottawa said Canadian officials are working with local authorities and are providing consular services to the families of Canadians affected.

With four attackers killed and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claiming responsibility for the massacre, Burkina Faso’s newly elected president acknowledged his small country has now been drawn into the line of Islamic extremist fire that has recently targeted Paris, neighbouring Mali and Jakarta.

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Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Kabore speaks to journalists at the site of the attack in Ouagadougou.

The assault followed on those recent attacks in places popular amongst westerners and tourists. Launched on a cluster of hotels and restaurants, the attackers set buildings and cars ablaze in their wake, reportedly leaving shell casings in the street.

Local and French forces ended the attack after storming the Splendid Hotel, killing the assailants and freeing at least 126 hostages.

Ten people were said to have been found dead at the Cappuccino Café across the street from the hotel, a popular bakery and restaurant with a western menu frequented by expatriates and visitors. The café owner’s wife and 5-year-old daughter were among those killed, The Associated Press reported.

A spokesperson for Quebec’s Minister of International Relations Christine St-Pierre confirmed all six Canadians killed in the attack were from the province, but did not release any names, details or why they were in the country.

A survivor of the assault by Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen on the Cafe Cappuccino is transported to the hospital in Ouagadougou.

Ismael Aziz Daboné, president of the Association des Burkinabé du Grand Montréal, a group representing Burkinabes in the region, said they don’t yet have details about the Quebecers killed but said they are believed to be development aid workers living abroad.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, first announcing Canadians were involved in the attack, said in a statement Saturday night that the government has offered assistance to local authorities to carry out an investigation.

“Canada strongly condemns the deadly terrorist attacks that took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso,” Trudeau said in the statement. “We are deeply saddened by these senseless acts of violence on innocent civilians.”

Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault said: “It is a tragedy that overwhelms us all.”

A woman being led to safety in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, following an overnight seizure of a luxury hotel.

Three attackers were killed at the hotel and a fourth was killed when security forces cleared out a second hotel nearby. Two of the three attackers at the Splendid Hotel were identified as female, President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré said on national radio.

Burkina Faso is a largely Muslim nation that remains poor. It relies on farming, being devoid of natural resources like oil that have drawn attention and conflict to other West African nations.

The small, landlocked country, a French colony until 1960, celebrated a democratic election this past November after an uprising that saw the previous president ousted a year earlier.

Until now, the country has avoided the kind of unrest that has gripped Mali, where Islamic extremists attacked a Radisson Blu hotel in the capital, Bamako, in November, killing 19 and two attackers. Responsibility for that attack was also claimed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a group linked to the larger terrorist organization Al Qaeda.

It also follows recent incidents in the northern region of Burkina Faso, near its border with Mali. An Australian doctor and his wife were kidnapped in a separate attack Friday night, The Associated Press reported.