Cote d’Ivoire authorities ordered three days of mourning and
tightened security at public places and at its borders Monday as the
death toll from the first jihadist attack on its soil climbed to 18.
“Their aim was to frighten us, we will not let ourselves be scared,”
said Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko after emergency government talks.
Armed with grenades and assault rifles, gunmen Sunday stormed three
hotels and sprayed the beach with bullets in the resort of Grand-Bassam,
a sleepy town popular with expats just a short 40-kilometre drive from
the commercial capital Abidjan.
The attack claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb left 15
civilians dead, including a German woman, as well as killing three
special forces troops, the government said. A total of 33 people were
injured, 26 of whom are still in hospital.
France said four of its nationals were among the dead.
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