OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Two jihadis can be seen on video standing next to burning cars a little more than an hour after an assault began on a hotel and cafe in Burkina Faso’s capital, raising new questions Tuesday about why it took so long for security forces to find and kill the militants blamed for at least 30 deaths.
The video shot by The Associated Press shows one man wearing a tunic and turban, carrying what appears to be a Kalashnikov rifle around 8:45 p.m., a little over an hour after they first attacked the Cappuccino Cafe. A second armed man can be seen wearing a large vest, and they are later joined by a third man with a pale scarf on his head.
On Tuesday, authorities in Burkina Faso also released new details on how they ultimately killed the three men who were part of the North Africa branch of al-Qaeda, working in connection with Algerian jihadi Moktar Belmoktar and his forces. Officials acknowledged, though, that it was more than four hours after the attack began before security forces tried to enter the hotel.
In the darkness of night and panic amid gunfire, some witnesses late Friday mistakenly identified at least two of the jihadis as women, and some even said they believed there was a fourth attacker. Burkina Faso Security Minister Simon Compaore said Tuesday that several people have been detained and questioned but he declined to give further details, citing the ongoing probe.
In a statement published by SITE Intelligence Group, though, al-Qaeda identified three “mujahedeen brothers” as the ones responsible: Al-Battar al-Ansari, Abu Muhammad al-Buqali al-Ansari and Ahmed al-Fulani al-Ansari.
Some of the victims openly expressed frustration Tuesday that it had taken authorities so long to find the attackers. Allassane Baguian, an American who was attending a meeting on the fourth floor of the hotel at the time of attack, was shot in the leg four times, and another bullet just skimmed his head.
Witnesses said the assault began around 7:30 p.m. Friday as dozens of people gathered for dinner and drinks at the Cappuccino Cafe and its terrace. The attackers then ambushed the Splendid Hotel next door.
Natacha Ble, a 23-year-old waitress from Ivory Coast who had been working for only a few weeks at the restaurant Taxi Brousse across the street, said she saw the three men coming but never imagined they were jihadis, saying they looked more like traditional herders from the Peul ethnic group in their tunics than Islamic militants.
“I started wondering what these Peul herders were coming to do in a place like this?” she recalled. “Then one of them headed toward the Cappuccino restaurant and began opening fire.”
Within 30 minutes, the president of Burkina Faso had asked the French ambassador for help. It would be four more hours, though, before French special forces arrived at the scene to help flush out the attackers and Burkina Faso’s military was awaiting their help.
