Burkina Faso: security forces end deadly hotel seige

(Vatican Radio) The siege at a central hotel in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, ended on Saturday after a lengthy operation involving local forces working in concert with French and US special units. At least four attackers were killed in the operation, two of them women.

The Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb group has taken responsibility for the attack on the Splendid Hotel, in which at least 23 people of 18 different nationalities were slain, and dozens of others injured – some of them gravely.

The attack came at a time in which Burkina Faso is emerging from a major political crisis.

The country recently held its first presidential election since a coup earlier last year that toppled leader Blaise Compaore after nearly three decades in power.