Burkina Faso: Police question suspects in aftermath of jihadist attack on hotel

Police in Burkina Faso were questioning several people on Wednesday, including 4 Niger citizens, seen talking to the jihadist gunmen who killed 30 people after storming a top hotel and a cafe in the capital, Ouagadougou, a security source said.

Two of the 30 dead, have still not been identified, prosecutor Maiza Sereme said.

A video recovered in the 4-star Hotel Splendid targeted in last Friday’s attack in Ouagadougou shows “4 people communicating with the jihadists. We identified and found them. They are being interrogated,” a security source said on condition of anonymity.

Another security source added that police had detained more than a dozen members belonging to the Tuareg separatist group – the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) – that has been operating in Mali and Niger.

It is suspected that Burkina Faso was hit because it has traditionally been a place where Christians and Muslims live together.

Among the 4 Niger citizens detained was a contender for next month’s presidential elections, Adal Rhoubed, a doctor of Tuareg origin who runs a clinic in Tahoua in western Niger and who supporters said traveled to Burkina Faso as part of his electoral campaign.

The security source said the Niger nationals were pulled in for questioning “to check their identities and schedule.”

Some 15 members of the MNLA were detained for questioning in different parts of Burkina Faso, “some then freed and others not.”