Gunmen take hostages in 'terror attack' at the Splendid Hotel in Burkina Faso

Six gunmen suspected to be members of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), have stormed a hotel in the west African city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, taking hostages and burning vehicles in what the French embassy described as a terrorist attack.

The gunmen stormed the five-storey Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou's business district, burning cars outside and firing in the air to drive back crowds before security forces arrived, prompting an intense exchange of gunfire.

Some of the wounded arrived at a local hospital, but there were so far no confirmed reports of deaths.

The attack would be the first by Islamist militants in the capital of Burkina Faso. It follows a deadly raid on a hotel in Mali in November and attacks by militants in other countries in west Africa.

The hotel is sometimes used by French troops with Operation Barkhane, a force based in Chad and set up to combat Islamist militants across west Africa's vast, arid Sahel region.

"It is continuing at this time. We are trying to know how many attackers they are to better co-ordinate our actions," said a senior official with the national gendarmes who asked not to be named. "Hostages have been taken. The operation could take several hours."

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