Jihadist group GSIM claims Burkina Faso attacks: media

GSIM said it took the action in response to the deaths of some of its leaders “in a French army raid in northern Mali two weeks ago,” the private news agency reported.

Troops ride in a vehicle near the French Embassy in central Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on Friday. Gunfire and explosions rocked Burkina Faso's capital early Friday in what the police said was a suspected attack by Islamic extremists. By midday the gunfire became intermittent and helicopters flew above the French Embassy in Ouagadougou.

The jihadist Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) has claimed responsibility for the twin attacks in Burkina Faso, in a message cited today by Mauritania’s Al-Akhbar news agency.

The group, led by the Malian jihadist Iyad Ag Ghaly, said it carried out the attacks on the French embassy and Burkina Faso’s military HQ in the capital Ouagadougou on Friday, which left eight soldiers dead.

 

GSIM said it took the action in response to the deaths of some of its leaders “in a French army raid in northern Mali two weeks ago,” the private news agency reported.

According to French military sources, some 20 jihadists were “killed or captured” on that occasion.

GSIM had already claimed responsibility for a February 21 attack near the border with Niger which left two French soldiers dead and a third injured in an area which is believed to shelter jihadists.

Friday’s attacks in Ouagadougou on the French embassy and the country’s military HQ left 12 people seriously injured according to an official toll while eight assailants were killed, along with the soldiers.

The coordinated attacks coincided with a meeting of the G5 Sahel regional anti-jihadist force under French command.