Gunmen killed 16 people, including four Europeans, at a beach
resort town in Ivory Coast on Sunday March 13,2016, the latest in a string of deadly
attacks across West Africa.
Six shooters targeted
hotels on a beach at Grand Bassam, a weekend retreat popular with
westerners about 40 km east of the commercial capital Abidjan, before
being killed in clashes with Ivorian special forces.
"Six
attackers came onto the beach in Bassam this afternoon," said Ivorian
President Alassane Ouattara during a visit to the site. "We have 14
civilians and two special forces soldiers who were unfortunately
killed."
A French man was killed in the attack,
according to a French foreign ministry spokesman. The nationalities of
the other dead were not yet known, but four were European, one officer
said during a briefing.
Gunmen all dressed in black opened fire around lunchtime while people
were eating and drinking at the beachside bars and restaurants or
swimming in the ocean.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has carried out other
recent attacks in the region, claimed responsibility for Sunday's
shootings, according to the U.S.-based SITE intelligence monitoring
group, citing an AQIM statement.
No comments:
Post a Comment