The daily star.com.lb – BEIRUT/OUAGADOUGOU: Three Lebanese nationals, including a pregnant woman, were among 18 killed in a terrorist attack on a Turkish restaurant in Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, Lebanese authorities said Monday. A statement from the Lebanese Foreign Ministry identified the Lebanese victims as Ahmad al-Bali, Mohsen Fneish and his wife who was pregnant at the time but was not named in the statement. It added that they were killed in the crossfire between security forces and the terrorists who had attacked the restaurant. At least eight foreigners of multiple nationalities were among the deceased. Prime Minister Saad Hariri ordered the head of the Higher Relief Committee Gen. Mohammad Kheir to coordinate with his counterparts in Burkina Faso and offered them any resources they might require to help the affected Lebanese nationals. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place Sunday evening. However, Burkina Faso’s Communications Minister Remi Dandjinou said that it was “a terrorist attack.”

Amy Sawadogo, waitress at the popular restaurant, told AP about the horror of the attack. Sawadogo was still searching for her colleagues as of Monday morning. “I just want to go to the hospital and see who is still alive,” the distraught young woman, who was still dressed in her uniform said Monday. “I am calling them in vain, no response.” The Aziz Istanbul restaurant is often packed with expats who would go there to watch football. Authorities said that many of the victims are children dining with their families. The attack began around 9 p.m. Sunday when the restaurant was full with customers. Two young men wearing jeans and jackets drove up on motorcycles and began indiscriminately shooting at the people inside with Kalashnikovs, witnesses told AP.

“I heard a noise when they smashed a car with their motorbike and before I understood what happened they started shooting at the customers on the terrace,” Assane Guebre, who had been keeping an eye on customers’ cars parked outside, said. “They were close to me, and I still don’t know how they did not hit me first,” Guebre said. His hands were still bleeding from the cuts he had suffered when he threw himself to the ground to avoid the bullets.A Reuters witness saw customers running out of the Aziz Istanbul restaurant as police and paramilitary gendarmerie surrounded it, amid gunfire. The shots rang into the night before the country’s special forces ended attack hours after it began. Initially, authorities had said there were three or four assailants. However, government spokesman Remy Danguinou told reporters early Monday that two attackers had been killed by the authorities.

Less than two years ago, extremists killed 30 people in a similar attack at the nearby Cappuccino cafe, which only recently reopened. The coffee shop was also popular with foreigners. Burkina Faso, like other countries in West Africa, has been targeted by extremist organizations. Most attacks have been along its remote northern border with Mali, which has seen activity by Islamist militants for more than a decade. Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore says he sent his condolences to the victims of Sunday night’s suspected extremist attack. “The fight against terrorism is a long-term battle,” he said in a statement. “That’s why I’m calling for vigilance, solidarity, and unity of the whole nation in order to face the cowardice of our adversaries.”