Sixty-three hostages have been rescued, 33 of them wounded, from the Burkinabe capital’s four-star Splendid hotel about two hours after the assault began and heavy gun battles were still being waged on the top floors of the hotel, popular with UN staff and foreigners.
Several masked men stormed the Splendid Hotel, taking hostages, after car bombs went off outside, eyewitnesses said.
Al-Qaeda militants struck an upscale hotel and nearby cafe late on Friday that are popular with Westerners in Burkina Faso’s capital, taking an unknown number of hostages and forcing others to hide for their lives as gunfire and explosions rang out.
Communications Minister Remis Dandjinou tweeted that some 30 hostages had been liberated and that a military operation to secure the site was ongoing.
He said Minister of Public Works Clement Sawadogo was among those freed.
Thirty-three people were in hospital receiving treatment, he added. It is not known if any hostages remain inside the hotel, but witnesses reported heavy gunfire from the top floors at around 05:00 local time (same as GMT).
French special forces and Burkinabe troops were involved in rescuing hostages from the hotel used by UN staff and Westerners, Mr Dandjinou said.
He said that the total number of those who lost their lives was not yet known.
Hospital chief Robert Sangare quoted survivors as saying at least 20 people had died in the initial attack, before the security forces began their assault on the hotel.
Later, Interior Minister Simon Compaore said 10 bodies had been found on the terrace of the nearby Cappuccino cafe, which was also attacked by the militants.
One group that monitors jihadist networks said al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed it was behind the attack on the four-star hotel alongside members of the al-Murabitoun Islamist group.
The attack comes less than two months after a jihadist hostage siege at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in the Malian capital Bamako in which 20 people died including 14 foreigners — an attack claimed by the same Al-Qaeda affiliate as the unfolding Ouagadougou assault.
Several attacks have taken place in Burkina Faso in recent months, but no such assaults had hit the capital.
Burkina Faso is part of the G5 Sahel grouping that counts the fight against terrorism as part of its remit.
