Al Qaeda affiliate claims responsibility for Burkina Faso attacks

NOUAKCHOTT - 4 March 2018: A Mali-based affiliate of al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for attacks in neighbouring Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou that killed eight people at the army headquarters and French embassy, according to the Mauritanian news agency Alakhbar.

The group, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), often uses Alakhbar to claim responsibility for strikes against civilian and military targets across West Africa's Sahel region.

Alakhbar, citing a recording from the group, reported that the attacks were carried out in response to the killing of one of JNIM's leaders, Mohamed Hacen al-Ancari, in a recent raid by French forces.

The attackers killed eight people and wounded dozens more in a coordinated assault.