World

Africa

Ivory Coast: 16 dead in Grand Bassam beach resort attack

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35798502/

Al-Qaeda-linked militants have killed at least 16 people in a gun attack on a beach resort in southern Ivory Coast.

The attackers fired on beach-goers in Grand Bassam, about 40km (25 miles) from the commercial capital Abidjan.

The resort is popular with both locals and foreigners. Four of the dead were Westerners, including a French and a German national, officials say.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed the attack. The gunmen have been "neutralised", officials say.

Ivory Coast was once one of the most stable countries in West Africa.

However, a civil war broke out in 2002, pitting the mainly Muslim north against the largely Christian south. Since then, peace deals have alternated with renewed violence.
Analysis: Tomi Oladipo, BBC Africa security correspondent

The attack confirms the fears of the Ivorian government, which has attempted to beef up security, particularly in its northern border regions, to keep Islamist militants out.

Grand Bassam is all the way to the south on the Atlantic coast, though. That shows that the militants have not just crossed the border but they might have even have a greater presence in the country. It furthers prove the capacity of jihadists to blend into the public and strike soft targets.

This threat is spreading across West Africa. To halt it, regional governments would need to step up their act in policing, as well as gathering and acting on intelligence individually and collectively.

France, too, is likely to boost its military campaign to protect its vast and entrenched interests in its former colonies.

A witness to Sunday's attack told AFP news agency that "heavily armed men wearing balaclavas" had opened fire near the L'Etoile du Sud hotel, which was full of expats.

Fourteen of those killed were civilians and two were soldiers, officials say. Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko four of the civilians were Westerners, and included a French and a German national.

There is no word on the nationalities of the other victims. French President Francois Hollande condemned the "cowardly attack".

BBC regional reporter Maud Jullien says Ivory Coast has been identified as one of several countries in West Africa at risk of being targeted by Islamist militants.

AQIM claimed deadly attacks on luxury hotels in Mali in November and Burkina Faso in January.

The group, which has its origin in Algeria's civil war of the 1990s, has expanded across the Sahel regions south of the Sahara in recent years.
-------------------
Ivory Coast attack likely targeted senior Obama administration official

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/03/13/gunmen-storm-ivory-coach-beach-resort.html/
-------------
Washington (AFP)

- Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate claimed a deadly attack by heavily-armed gunmen on the Ivory Coast resort of Grand-Bassam on Sunday that killed at least 16 people, US-based monitors said.

"By the grace of Allah and His granting of success, three heroes from the knights of Qaedat al-Jihad in the Islamic Maghreb were able to storm the tourist resort 'Grand Bassam,' situated east of the city of Abidjan, in Ivory Coast," the SITE Intelligence Group quoted Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb as saying in a post.

http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaeda-affiliate-claims-coast-attack-us-based-195255336.html/

I have been checking on this almost 5 hours now. The dead count just keeps rising

Thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families.


Sadly, the violence won't stop.
We know why.

France sending 2 top ministers to Ivory Coast
Associated Press 8 minutes ago

PARIS (AP) — France is sending two top ministers to Abidjan to express its solidarity with Ivory Coast after the deadly attack on a beach resort that killed at least 16 people on Sunday.

Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will travel to the West Africa country on Tuesday alongside Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

President Francois Hollande condemned the "cowardly and odious attack" in the town of Grand-Bassam in which one French citizen was killed.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the attack, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi websites.

Paris prosecutor also announced that French intelligence investigators traveled to Grand-Bassam on Monday. The Paris prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into the attack, calling it murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise. Anti-terrorism investigators will handle the probe because there was a French victim.


http://news.yahoo.com/france-sending-2-top-ministers-ivory-coast-090921179.html/

The only way to stop Bad Men is to send Good Men who Bad things

Religion of Peace struck again!
How much longer will the Useful Idiots keep on appeasing?

I am SO sick of it.

Entire countries & now entire continents act as if they have " ABUSED WIFE SYNDROME"!

It is some how my fault

He is just stressed & misunderstood

If I give him what he needs & wants it will just stop.

Don't talk about it, pretend everything is okay.




Yea okay..kiss a@s & die