Grand-Bassam shootings

Last updated

Grand-Bassam shootings
Part of the spillover of the Sahel insurgency
Grand-Bassam-Plage.jpg
The beach targeted, pictured in 2008
Location Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast
Date13 March 2016
Attack type
Mass murder, mass shooting
Weapons Assault rifles
Hand grenades
Deaths16 civilians [1] and 3 special forces members
(+3 attackers)
Injured33
Perpetrators Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Al-Mourabitoun
No. of participants
6

On 13 March 2016, three Islamist gunmen opened fire at a beach resort in Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast, killing at least 19 people and injuring 33 others. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Attack

Three armed assailants [5] attacked the Étoile du Sud hotel which, according to Agence France-Presse, was occupied by numerous expatriates at the time. [6] [nb 1] According to officials, 15 civilians and three special forces soldiers were killed. [8]

The attackers were described as African, armed with Kalashnikov rifles and grenade belts and dressed in casual clothes and balaclavas. [3] A shootout occurred between the attackers and police as the assailants reached the La Paillote Hotel. Local residents and tourists were evacuated by army personnel from the beach to nearby hotels, which were temporarily placed on lockdown. [9]

The Associated Press quoted Government officials as saying that security forces had killed six armed men. [10] [11] The terrorists allegedly shouted "Allahu Akbar". [12] An American embassy delegation was at Grand-Bassam on the date of the attack, but the US Embassy in Abidjan said on Twitter that there is "no evidence that U.S. citizens were targeted nor confirmed reports of any U.S[ sic ] citizens as harmed." [13] [14] French authorities had warned both Ivory Coast and Senegal weeks earlier of the danger of a terrorist attack. [15]

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and al-Mourabitoun claimed responsibility for the attack. [16] On 17 March, AQIM released the names of the attackers: Hamza al-Fulani and Abu Adam al-Ansari from al-Mourabitoun and Abderrahmane al-Fulani from the "Emirate of the Desert". [17] It had been the third bloody attack on a tourism resort in West Africa for four months. In all, dozens of people fell victim to the assassinations and more were injured. [18] [19]

Casualties

Deaths by nationality
CountryNumberRef.
Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg Ivory Coast9 [1]
Flag of France.svg France4 [1]
Flag of Lebanon.svg Lebanon1 [1] [20]
Flag of Mali.svg Mali1 [21]
Flag of Nigeria.svg Nigeria1 [1]
Flag of Germany.svg Germany1 [1]
Flag of North Macedonia.svg North Macedonia1 [1] [22]
Undisclosed1 [23]
Total19 [20]

Reactions

Domestic

International reactions

See also

Notes

  1. A group of Ukrainian peacekeepers was also at the beach. [7] Its team supervisor, Maj. Olena Liakhova, suffered a facial wound. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand-Bassam</span> Place in Comoé, Ivory Coast

Grand-Bassam is a town in southeastern Ivory Coast, lying east of Abidjan. It is a sub-prefecture of and the seat of Grand-Bassam Department; it is also a commune. During the late 19th century, Grand-Bassam was briefly the French colonial capital of Ivory Coast. Because of its outstanding examples of colonial architecture and town-planning, and the juxtaposition of the colonial town with a traditional Nzema village, the historic center of Grand-Bassam was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire</span>

The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) was a UN-NATO peacekeeping mission in Ivory Coast whose objective was "to facilitate the implementation by the Ivorian parties of the peace agreement signed by them in January 2003". The two main Ivorian parties were the Ivorian Government forces who controlled the south of the country, and the New Forces, who controlled the north. The UNOCI mission aimed to control a "zone of confidence" across the centre of the country separating the two parties. The Head of Mission and Special Representative of the Secretary-General was Aïchatou Mindaoudou Souleymane from Niger. She succeeded Bert Koenders from the Netherlands in 2013, who himself succeeded Choi Young-jin from South Korea in 2011. The mission officially ended on 30 June 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)</span> Sunni Islamic terrorism in the Maghreb

The insurgency in the Maghreb refers to the ongoing Islamist insurgency in the Maghreb region of North Africa that followed on from the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002. The Algerian militant group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) allied itself with al-Qaeda to eventually become al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The Algerian and other Maghreb governments fighting the militants have worked with the United States and the United Kingdom since 2007, when Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara began.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010–2011 Ivorian crisis</span>

The 2010–11 Ivorian crisis was a political crisis in Ivory Coast which began after Laurent Gbagbo, the President of Ivory Coast since 2000, was proclaimed the winner of the Ivorian election of 2010, the first election in the country in 10 years. The opposition candidate, Alassane Ouattara, and a number of countries, organisations and leaders worldwide claimed Ouattara had won the election. After months of attempted negotiation and sporadic violence, the crisis entered a decisive stage as Ouattara's forces began a military offensive in which they quickly gained control of most of the country and besieged key targets in Abidjan, the country's largest city. At the time, international organizations reported numerous human rights violations, and the UN undertook its own military action with the stated objective to protect itself and civilians.

al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Islamist militant organization in Northwest Africa and the Sahel

Al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization that aims to overthrow the Algerian government and institute an Islamic state. To that end, it is currently engaged in an insurgency campaign in the Maghreb and Sahel regions.

Al-Mourabitoun was an African militant jihadist organisation formed by a merger between Ahmed Ould Amer, a.k.a. Ahmed al-Tilemsi's Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa and Mokhtar Belmokhtar's Al-Mulathameen. On 4 December 2015, it joined Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group seeks to implement Sharia law in Mali, Algeria, southwestern Libya, and Niger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terrorism in France</span> Overview of terrorism in France

Terrorism in France refers to the terrorist attacks that have targeted the country and its population during the 20th and 21st centuries. Terrorism, in this case is much related to the country's history, international affairs and political approach. Legislation has been set up by lawmakers to fight terrorism in France.

The following lists events that happened during 2011 in Ivory Coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bardo National Museum attack</span> 2015 mass killing of hostages by militants in Tunis, Tunisia

On 18 March 2015, two militants attacked the Bardo National Museum in the Tunisian capital city of Tunis, and took hostages. Twenty-one people, mostly European tourists, were killed at the scene, and an additional victim died ten days later. Around fifty others were injured. The two gunmen, Tunisian citizens Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, were killed by police. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Sousse attacks</span> Mass shooting at a Tunisian tourist resort on 26 June 2015

On 26 June 2015, a mass shooting occurred at the tourist resort at Port El Kantaoui, about 10 kilometres north of the city of Sousse, Tunisia. Thirty-eight people, 30 of whom were British, were killed when a gunman, Seifeddine Rezgui, attacked a hotel. It was the deadliest non-state attack in the history of modern Tunisia, with more fatalities than the 22 killed in the Bardo National Museum attack three months before. The attack received widespread condemnation around the world. The Tunisian government later "acknowledged fault" for slow police response to the attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">November 2015 Paris attacks</span> 2015 terrorist attacks in France

The November 2015 Paris attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15 p.m., three suicide bombers struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, during an international football match, after failing to gain entry to the stadium. Another group of attackers then fired on crowded cafés and restaurants in Paris, with one of them also detonating an explosive, killing himself in the process. A third group carried out another mass shooting and took hostages at an Eagles of Death Metal concert attended by 1,500 people in the Bataclan theatre, leading to a stand-off with police. The attackers were either shot or blew themselves up when police raided the theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Bamako hotel attack</span> Terrorist attack in Radisson Blu, Bamako

On 20 November 2015, Islamist militants took 170 hostages and killed 20 of them in a mass shooting at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, the capital city of Mali. Malian commandos along with Kyle Morgan, a special mission unit operator from the US Army’s Combat Application Group, commonly referred to as Delta Force, assaulted the hotel and freed the surviving hostages. Al-Mourabitoun claimed that it carried out the attack "in cooperation with" Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb; an Al Qaeda member confirmed that the two groups cooperated in the attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Ouagadougou attacks</span> Islamic terrorist attack in Burkina Faso

On 15 January 2016, gunmen armed with heavy weapons attacked the Cappuccino restaurant and the Splendid Hotel in the heart of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. The number of fatalities reached 30, while at least 56 were wounded; a total of 176 hostages were released after a government counter-attack into the next morning as the siege ended. Three perpetrators were also killed. The nearby YIBI hotel was then under siege, where another attacker was killed. Notably, former Swiss MPs Jean-Noël Rey and Georgie Lamon were killed. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Mourabitoun.

The IS insurgency in Tunisia refers to the ongoing militant and terror activity of the Islamic State branch in Tunisia. The activity of the Islamic State (IS) in Tunisia began in June 2015, with the Sousse attacks, though an earlier terror incident in Bardo Museum in March 2015 was claimed by ISIL, while the Tunisian government blamed Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade for the attack. Following massive border clashes near Ben Guerdane in March 2016, the activity of the IS group was described as an armed insurgency, switching from previous tactics of sporadic suicide attacks to attempts to gain territorial control.

Nineteen people were killed and 25 others were injured when suspected jihadists opened fire on a Turkish restaurant and hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on 13 August 2017. Police cornered the attackers, who took hostages and then were killed in an ensuing shootout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crime in Ivory Coast</span> Overview of crimes in Cote dIvoire

Crime in Cote d'Ivoire is prevalent and versatile across the West African country. The most common forms of crime include child labour, arms trafficking, terrorism and human rights abuse. Other less common, but still evident types of crime include cannabis and synthetic drug trade, sex trafficking, fauna and flora crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamist insurgency in the Sahel</span>

Islamist insurgency in the Sahel or Jihadist Insurgencies in the Sahel refers to the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel region of West Africa following the 2011 Arab Spring to the present day. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.

Events in the year 2022 in Ivory Coast.

References

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