Cooped up for many hours after an attack

Photo AFP
The inhabitants of Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, have fled the centre of the city in panic yesterday after a double bombing murderer. A large plume of black smoke rose above the city after the explosion of a car bomb.

Benoît Philie

Saturday, 3 march, 2018 00:07

UPDATE
Saturday, 3 march, 2018 00:07

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Quebecers are installed in Burkina Faso have remained cloistered at home for long hours yesterday after a double bombing which has led to nearly 30 people in the city centre of Ouagadougou.

“I heard a detonation, and then we had been instructed by authorities to remain in the us. It is in waiting and there is a lot of misunderstanding, ” said the Newspaper, the coordinator of Oxfam-Québec, Mylène Otis, who lives near the centre of the capital.

Photo taken from Facebook

Mylène Otis
Oxfam-Québec

Another Quebec, joined the Centre for international studies and cooperation based in Burkina Faso, said to have been witness to the panic.

Attacks ” terrorist “

“There was a large cloud of black smoke, and people trying to flee the city,” she said, before the communication is cut off.

According to AFP, at least 28 people were killed in coordinated attacks involving car bomb and gunfire, to the general staff of the armed forces of Burkina Faso and the embassy of France.

The operation conducted in the morning by several groups of armed men had not yet been claimed yesterday, but the government of burkina faso spoke of a ” terrorist attack perpetrated [ … ], by heavily armed men not identified “, condemning ” acts cowardly and barbaric “.

The attackers began firing at passers-by heading to the embassy of France to 10 p.m. At the same time, another group attacked the staff with a car full of explosives.

The situation was brought under control at around 15 h. Eight members of the security forces have been killed and more than 80 injured, according to a balance sheet of the government, who said that eight attackers had been slaughtered.

The west african country is since 2015 the target of jihadist attacks in repetition.

Several attacks

“We are really sorry that this is happening to us again. As soon as you start to feel safe, there’s another attack, ” said Mrs. Otis, who lived in the country for 18 years.

On 13 August, two assailants opened fire on a cafe-restaurant, killing 19 people dead and 21 injured. The attack had not been claimed.

On January 15, 2016, thirty people, six of them from Quebec, had been killed in a raid against the Splendid hotel and the restaurant Cappuccino, in the centre of Ouagadougou. The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda in the islamic Maghreb.

According to Ms. Otis, the security in the city centre has been reinforced since the attack of 2016. “There are controls and a military presence in the city. But this has not prevented another attack, ” she said.

– With Agence France-Presse