OUAGADOUGOU
(BURKINA FASO), Mar 2:
Armed men attacked the French embassy in Burkina Faso and the country’s military headquarters today before being repelled in a battle that left dozens of dead or injured.
Local security sources put a still-incomplete death toll at about 15 while other sources reached from Paris sketched an even bloodier outcome, with at least 28 people killed in the second assault alone.
The coordinated operation underscored the fragility of the Sahel nation, one of a string of African states struggling with a bloody jihadist insurgency.
Heavy gunfire broke out mid-morning in the centre of the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou.
Witnesses said five armed men got out of a car and opened fire on passersby before heading towards the French embassy. The car was later seen ablaze.
At the same time, an explosion occurred near the headquarters of the Burkinabe armed forces and the French cultural centre, which are located about a kilometre (half a mile) from the site of the first attack, other witnesses said.
Burkinabe security sources said around 15 people were killed, while the army’s medical chief, Colonel Amado Kafando, said 75 others had been injured.
It was unclear whether these figures applied to one or to both attacks, and whether they included the assailants.
Earlier, the Government had announced that six assailants had been killed — four in the embassy attack and two in the military attack — while state TV said seven members of the security forces had also died.
Three security sources — two in France and one in West Africa, told AFP that at least 28 people were killed in the attack on the military HQ alone.
French Government sources said there had been no French casualties and described the situation in Ouagadougou as “under control”.
Information Minister Remis Fulgance Dandjinou said the attack “has strong overtones of terrorism.” The Paris public prosecutor said it had opened a formal investigation into “attempted murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise”, an expected procedural step after attacks targeting French citizens or interests.
Burkina Faso is one of a group of fragile countries on the southern rim of the Sahara that are battling jihadist groups.
The insurgency has caused thousands of deaths, prompted tens of thousands to flee their homes and dealt crippling blows to economies that are already among the poorest in the world.
In a separate development on Friday, the specialist US website SITE, which monitors jihadist activity, said kidnappers had released a video of a 75-year-old French hostage, Sophie Petronin, who had been abducted in northern Mali in late 2016.
Petronin, who had been running an association helping Malian orphans, appears in poor health in the brief video.
Her kidnapping, hitherto unclaimed, was carried out by the “Support Group for Islam and Muslims”. In the background, Macron’s voice is heard on a loop, saying “I will protect you”. (AGENCIES)
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