Al-Qaeda names Burkina Faso hotel attackers

PanARMENIAN.Net - Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on Monday, January 18 identified three fighters it says were responsible for attacks in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou over the weekend that killed 29 people, Reuters reports.

Gunmen from the Islamist militant group stormed the Cappuccino restaurant and the Splendid Hotel on Friday night, singling out white people for slaughter. Eight Burkinabes, six Canadians, three Ukrainians and two French people were killed, among others.

In a statement, AQIM named the three attackers as al-Battar al-Ansari, Abu Muhammad al-Buqali al-Ansari and Ahmed al-Fulani al-Ansari, according to SITE Intelligence group.

Al-Ansari is a nom de guerre that usually designates somebody from northern Mali, although it might just indicate where the brigade is based or originates from.

The statement included a picture of the three apparently adolescent "heroes" in beige fatigues carrying Kalashnikovs.

Two were black and another, smiling faintly, was light-skinned, suggesting he might be from an Arab or Tuareg group.

The streets of Ouagadougou were unusually quiet on Monday in a country unaccustomed to the frequent jihadist attacks that have plagued its Western neighbor Mali. AQIM also claimed a similar attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital Bamako in November that killed 20 people.