Lebanese Dead, 5 Hurt in Qaida Attack on Ivory Coast Resort Frequented by Westerners

A Lebanese citizen was killed and five others were injured Sunday when heavily-armed gunmen opened fire in the Ivory Coast resort town of Grand-Bassam in an attack that left at least 16 people dead.

“The attack was carried out by more than 13 militants, who arrived by sea at the targeted area and opened fire indiscriminately on the restaurants' customers, causing heavy casualties,” Lebanon's National News Agency said.

Wissam Kalakesh, the Lebanese charge d'affaires in Ivory Coast, confirmed that a Lebanese citizen was killed and five others were wounded.

"Five Lebanese were injured, including Najibeh Sabra, her sons Mohammed and Hassan Mortada, and Mohammed's wife Rasha," Kalakesh said. NNA said the five citizens hail from the southern town of Deir Qanoun Ras al-Ain.

Kalakesh later announced that authorities had discovered the dead body of Lebanese citizen Toufiq Hayek, who was in his fifties and hailed from the Nabatiyeh region.

"He was swimming with his Ivorian wife when the attack occurred. He sustained a lethal injury as his wife managed to flee," the charge d'affaires added.

A witness in the resort town of Grand-Bassam told AFP they heard one of the assailants shouting "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is greatest".

Fourteen civilians and two special forces troops were killed in the shooting spree targeting three hotels, Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara said.

One French and one German national were among those killed, according to Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko. 

SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. monitor, said al-Qaida's North African affiliate had claimed responsibility for the attack in the former French colonial capital, a resort popular with Western expatriates.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in a statement said three of its fighters had been killed, while Ouattara said six assailants were dead following what he condemned as a "terrorist" attack.

"The toll is heavy," the Ivorian leader said as he arrived in Grand-Bassam, which lies on the Gulf of Guinea around 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the commercial hub Abidjan.

French President Francois Hollande condemned the "cowardly attack" and offered support for the Ivorian government in finding the perpetrators.

The Paris prosecutor's office said it had opened a terror probe into the attack.

The assailants, who were "heavily armed and wearing balaclavas, fired at guests at the L'Etoile du Sud, a large hotel which was full of expats in the current heatwave," a witness told AFP.

Marie-Claire Yapi, in tears as she held her two-year-old son in her arms, said she was waiting for news of her son and her sister.

"We had just arrived when we heard gunshots -- we thought it was a robbery. Someone said to me, 'Run, this is serious, they are killing everyone."

West African nations have scrambled to boost security in the wake of jihadist attacks in recent months in the capitals of Mali and Burkina Faso -- assaults on hotels that were also claimed by AQIM.

Sunday's attack also bore grim similarities to the Islamist gun and grenade assault on a Tunisian beach resort last June, which left 37 foreign holidaymakers dead.

- 'Roamed the beach firing shots' -

Witness Braman Kinda said several attackers had "roamed the beach firing shots," while Abbas El-Roz, a Lebanese national who was staying at the Etoile du Sud, said one of the assailants had a Kalashnikov assault rifle and a grenade belt.

Another witness, Kouamena Kakou Bertin, said three of the attackers fled on foot via a nearby road.

A large crowd gathered near the French quarter at the edge of the old town, whose elegant colonial-era facades have earned Grand-Bassam UNESCO World Heritage status. 

An AFP journalist saw around a dozen people, including an injured Western woman, being evacuated in a military truck, while the army was tightly controlling access to the area.

In Paris, prosecutors opened an inquiry into the attack, while France's embassy in Ivory Coast told its nationals to stay away from the attack scene "to avoid obstructing security forces."

- Jihadist threat -

The attack is unprecedented in Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer, and comes as analysts voice fears that jihadism could be spreading further into West Africa following AQIM's recent assaults in Mali and Burkina Faso.

The recently-concluded Flintlock military exercise, grouping African, U.S. and European troops, focused on the need to counter jihadism in the region.

Gunmen killed 30 people in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou in January, while the Mali attack the previous November left 20 dead. AQIM claimed both attacks, which both targeted hotels popular with foreigners.

Sunday's attack comes as a blow to Ivory Coast's tourism sector, which the government is seeking to revive as the country emerges from a decade of political crisis.

Y.R.