"The lower death toll for the assailants agrees with the claim of responsibility from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, known as AQIM, which said Sunday that three attackers were killed. The extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites."
That is about when I knew it was all crap. Another staged and scripted crisis drill reported as real.
"16 killed in Al Qaeda attack on Ivory Coast hotels" by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Dionne Searcey New York Times March 13, 2016
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — Gunmen opened fire on picnickers and swimmers enjoying a perfect day at three beach resort hotels near the Ivory Coast’s capital Sunday, killing 16 people and leaving bodies strewn across the bloodstained sand. It was the third major attack in West Africa since November, and verified fears that the spread of terrorism across the region was far from over.
My print copy started out differently, and it was all downhill from there.
We have seen so many of these over the last year alone that it has become a jump-the-shark shovel.
The attack, on the first sunny Sunday in weeks, took place in Grand-Bassam, a popular palm tree-lined getaway for Ivorians and foreigners. Fourteen civilians and two members of the country’s special forces were killed, as well as six gunmen, according to a spokeswoman for the president.
“The situation is under control,” President Alassane Ouattara told reporters on a visit to the scene of the shootings.
The North African affiliate of Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released Sunday evening that praised three “knights” who had carried it out. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the number of attackers.
Oh, Al-CIA-Duh claimed responsibility and couldn't get their stories straight, huh?
French authorities warned weeks ago that Ivory Coast, as well as Senegal, could be targeted.
They even had warning!
Groups with ties to Al Qaeda have led an increasing number of deadly attacks on destinations popular with expatriates in West Africa, launching assaults far from what is thought to be its regional base, in the deserts of northern Mali.
In January, militants attacked the Hotel Splendid and Cappuccino Cafe in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Gunmen also attacked the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, in November. In all, dozens have been killed and many more wounded.
The joke is on me for continuing to read this propaganda.
The region is nervous. In many countries, officials have set up new checkpoints along highways. Metal detectors are in place outside hotels and even small coffee shops. Drivers visiting restaurants are often subjected to thorough searches of their vehicles.
But thwarting this type of relatively simple attack, carried out by a handful of gunmen, is proving difficult.
The identities of the victims in Grand-Bassam had yet to be released, but both locals and foreigners were among the dead. The French government said one of its citizens had been killed. An official at the Grand-Bassam morgue said a German woman was among the victims. Ivory Coast’s interior minister listed the victims’ nationalities as Ivorian, Burkinabe, Malian, Cameroonian, French, and German, without offering more details.
A US trade delegation of university representatives was in Grand-Bassam at the time of the attacks, but not at any of the targeted hotels, according to a US Embassy official. Part of the town of Grand-Bassam, with its 19th- and 20th-century colonial architecture, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Swimmers and sunbathers had gathered Sunday along the seaside beaches and pools at the cluster of three hotels — L’Etoile du Sud, the Wharf Hotel and Koral Beach — at the start of a hot afternoon. Grand-Bassam, a former French colonial capital, is about 30 miles east of Abidjan, the capital.
It was unclear how the gunmen had arrived, but some witnesses said the assailants had concentrated their attacks on the beachside areas.
Thierry Cusset, a French commercial agent who has lived in Abidjan for 15 years, said he and his wife had been among a mostly local crowd relaxing in lounge chairs at the Wharf.
The couple ordered food, then parted ways for swimming — Cusset in the ocean and his wife in the pool.
“That’s when they started shooting in every direction,” he said.
Bullets rained down and the sound was deafening, he said. Wounded people crawled toward the kitchen to take shelter. One had been shot in the leg.
“It was total panic,” he said. “Everyone was screaming.”
He found his wife, unharmed, in the pool and the couple raced for their car. As they drove off, they encountered police cars speeding toward the scene.
At L’Etoile du Sud, five gunmen descended on beachgoers around 1 p.m., witnesses said. A gunmen shot a child, then started spraying bullets at people in the ocean.
“Everyone panicked and started to run away,” said one witness, Firmin Atte.
The attack was a setback for a nation that had been trying to move beyond the civil unrest of the early 2000s to reclaim a spot among the economic leaders of the region. Ouattara, its newly re-elected president, has built up major infrastructure around the capital, and had been trying to lure more multinational companies to set up regional headquarters in Ivory Coast.
I guess they will have to look elsewhere.
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I know where they won't be staying:
"Attack strike upscale hotel in Burkina Faso’s capital" Associated Press January 16, 2016
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Al Qaeda militants struck an upscale hotel and nearby cafe late 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. Commandos used explosives to storm the building five hours later, accidentally setting fire to the hotel.
It was not immediately known how many people may have been killed during the siege, though a survivor told hospital director Robert Sangare he estimated the toll could be as high as 20. At least 15 other people were seriously wounded by bullets and undergoing treatment at the Yalgado Ouedraogo hospital, he said.
The local Al Qaeda affiliate known as AQIM claimed responsibility online as the attack was ongoing in downtown Ouagadougou at the 147-room Splendid Hotel, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
Smells like another hoax.
Burkina Faso has been in growing political turmoil since its longtime president was ousted in a popular uprising in late 2014.
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So what cover story are they handing out for this staged and scripted crisis drill?
"27 dead as as Burkina Faso seige comes to end" by Brahima Ouedraogo Associated Press January 16, 2016
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — The overnight seizure of a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso’s capital by Al Qaeda-linked extremists ended Saturday when Burkina Faso and French security forces killed four jihadist attackers and freed more than 126 people, the West African nation’s president said.
At least 23 other people from up to 18 countries were killed in the attack at the Splendid Hotel and nearby Cappuccino Cafe, establishments popular with westerners in Ouagadougou, the capital, he said.
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 Kabore said on national radio.
‘‘We appeal to the people to be vigilant and brave because we must fight on,’’ the president said when praising the security forces and first responders. He also said the country was grateful for the military cooperation from the French and Americans.
STENCH!
In a separate development, Burkina Faso’s minister of security and internal affairs, Simon Compaore, said a doctor and his wife kidnapped in Burkina Faso’s north are Australian, correcting earlier reports by the ministry’s spokeswoman that they were Austrian.
The harrowing attack was launched by the same extremists behind a similar siege at an upscale hotel in Bamako, Mali, in November that left 20 dead.
Yeah, they all read from the same script. That's why I'm doubting them.
It's mind-manipulating garbage and not real!
You know, the usual war propaganda that comes from the jew$paper.
Dozens of French forces arrived overnight from neighboring Mali to aid in the rescue. One US military member was embedded with French forces at the scene, and the United States was working to help provide France with surveillance and reconnaissance help, according to a US senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
An Al Qaeda affiliate known as AQIM, or Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, claimed responsibility online as the attack was ongoing, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
Meaning it's all BS!
Burkina Faso, a largely Muslim country, had for years been largely spared from the violence carried out by Islamic extremist groups who were abducting foreigners for ransom in neighboring Mali and Niger. Then last April, a Romanian national was kidnapped in an attack that was the first of its kind in the country.
Burkina Faso has also experienced political turmoil since its longtime president was ousted in a popular uprising in late 2014. Last September members of a presidential guard launched a coup that lasted only about a week. The transitional government returned to power until Burkina Faso’s November election ushered in new leaders.
I was left confused by the Globes coverage.
The hotel attack in Mali in November was also claimed by a leader of AQIM, who said it had been carried out as a declaration of unity with Algerian militant Moktar Belmoktar’s extremist group Al-Mourabitoun, according to an audio speech distributed by SITE. Belmoktar was a former leader in AQIM before starting his own group, which now has merged back with Al Qaeda....
When you see SITE you know it's garbage!
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Related:
"Burkina Faso began three days of national mourning Sunday and the president said security would be stepped up after Al Qaeda militants in a vehicle from neighboring Niger killed at least 28 people in an attack on a hotel and cafe popular with foreigners. In a message to the nation, President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said the people of Burkina Faso must unite in the fight against terrorism. He also announced that security forces would be increasing their efforts to thwart future attacks and asked people to comply with the new restrictions."
The ultimate goal of all the mind-bending machinations.
