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| Deadly Standoff Leaves Burkina Faso Stunned | Deadly Standoff Leaves Burkina Faso Stunned |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Terror came to this sleepy city this weekend, as armed fighters descended on a road nicknamed the Champs-Élysées, where friends meet for coffee and foreigners relax in a familiar hotel. After a 15-hour siege, the assailants left behind more than the dead and wounded scattered across the charred road amid shell casings. | OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Terror came to this sleepy city this weekend, as armed fighters descended on a road nicknamed the Champs-Élysées, where friends meet for coffee and foreigners relax in a familiar hotel. After a 15-hour siege, the assailants left behind more than the dead and wounded scattered across the charred road amid shell casings. |
| The rampage at the Splendid Hotel and Cappuccino Cafe here in the capital forced this nation to face the awful realization that the violent Islamic extremism that it for years avoided finally had crept across its borders. | The rampage at the Splendid Hotel and Cappuccino Cafe here in the capital forced this nation to face the awful realization that the violent Islamic extremism that it for years avoided finally had crept across its borders. |
| Twenty-eight people were killed and 56 were wounded in the attack that loudly announced the end to a long, mostly peaceful stretch in Burkina Faso. | Twenty-eight people were killed and 56 were wounded in the attack that loudly announced the end to a long, mostly peaceful stretch in Burkina Faso. |
| The mayhem at the center of town here carried out by at least three militants followed two other related episodes near the border with Mali, government officials said. In one, gunmen attacked a police convoy, killing two people. Also in the north of the country, an Australian couple was kidnapped. | The mayhem at the center of town here carried out by at least three militants followed two other related episodes near the border with Mali, government officials said. In one, gunmen attacked a police convoy, killing two people. Also in the north of the country, an Australian couple was kidnapped. |
| Officials blamed an affiliate of Al Qaeda for the attacks, dragging this tiny nation into the global war on terrorism, where governments struggle to combat jihadists who blow up restaurants and storm into concerts and shopping malls, guns blazing. | Officials blamed an affiliate of Al Qaeda for the attacks, dragging this tiny nation into the global war on terrorism, where governments struggle to combat jihadists who blow up restaurants and storm into concerts and shopping malls, guns blazing. |
| And so on Saturday, in the wake of the attacks, the nation’s leaders delivered speeches in Ouagadougou (pronounced wah-gah-DOO-goo), denouncing terrorism and the loss of lives, in a familiar day-after mantra. | And so on Saturday, in the wake of the attacks, the nation’s leaders delivered speeches in Ouagadougou (pronounced wah-gah-DOO-goo), denouncing terrorism and the loss of lives, in a familiar day-after mantra. |
| Yet the words of the newly elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, had a particular sting as the nation that just congratulated itself for a peaceful democratic election faced a startling crisis. | Yet the words of the newly elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, had a particular sting as the nation that just congratulated itself for a peaceful democratic election faced a startling crisis. |
| “For the first time in history our country was the victim of a series of barbarous terrorist attacks, ignoble and on a scale without precedence and an unheard-of cowardice,” Mr. Kaboré said. | “For the first time in history our country was the victim of a series of barbarous terrorist attacks, ignoble and on a scale without precedence and an unheard-of cowardice,” Mr. Kaboré said. |
| “The struggle against terrorism,” he said, “is now part of our daily life.” | “The struggle against terrorism,” he said, “is now part of our daily life.” |
| The attack on the Splendid Hotel was the latest in a series of assaults on so-called soft targets that terrorists have begun employing at an alarmingly rapid clip in recent weeks, unleashing mayhem in mundane settings of everyday life across the world. | The attack on the Splendid Hotel was the latest in a series of assaults on so-called soft targets that terrorists have begun employing at an alarmingly rapid clip in recent weeks, unleashing mayhem in mundane settings of everyday life across the world. |
| A shopping mall and cafe in Iraq, a terrace outside a Starbucks in Indonesia, a public square near the Blue Mosque in Turkey and other attacks on hotels popular with Westerners and local elites in both Egypt and Mali have all become battlefields. | A shopping mall and cafe in Iraq, a terrace outside a Starbucks in Indonesia, a public square near the Blue Mosque in Turkey and other attacks on hotels popular with Westerners and local elites in both Egypt and Mali have all become battlefields. |
| Until now, Al Qaeda’s regional affiliate has carried out minor attacks in Burkina Faso, but it has for the most part trained its sights on Algeria and Mali. | Until now, Al Qaeda’s regional affiliate has carried out minor attacks in Burkina Faso, but it has for the most part trained its sights on Algeria and Mali. |
| The chaos that erupted Friday night in Ouagadougou was an affront to everyday life in this city with a nightly curfew, where order reigns, evident even in the shirts in roadside markets displayed carefully on hangers and parked bicycles and scooters spaced apart just so. | |
| “It’s shocking,” said Alexandre Sanfo, the general director of Blaise Compaoré Hospital, which treated dozens of the people wounded in the attacks. | “It’s shocking,” said Alexandre Sanfo, the general director of Blaise Compaoré Hospital, which treated dozens of the people wounded in the attacks. |
| Mr. Sanfo said the nation was known for its religious tolerance and its warm welcome to foreigners. He recited a local saying that all Burkinabes give up their beds and sleep on the floor when guests arrive in their homes. | Mr. Sanfo said the nation was known for its religious tolerance and its warm welcome to foreigners. He recited a local saying that all Burkinabes give up their beds and sleep on the floor when guests arrive in their homes. |
| “I’m afraid now that people will be suspicious of each other, especially of Muslims,” he said. | “I’m afraid now that people will be suspicious of each other, especially of Muslims,” he said. |
| On Friday night, David Kokuvi was at the Cappuccino Cafe with friends when explosions rang out. “Everyone said, ‘Get down! Get down!’ ” said Mr. Kokuvi, 43, from his hospital bed, where he was awaiting surgery for a bullet wound to his shoulder. | |
| The force blew him to the floor, and the cafe filled with smoke, which he crawled through to get to an exit. He never saw the fighters who had rushed inside and started shooting. | The force blew him to the floor, and the cafe filled with smoke, which he crawled through to get to an exit. He never saw the fighters who had rushed inside and started shooting. |
| When he stumbled outside, still half crawling, he saw bodies everywhere. He could not tell if the people were dead. | When he stumbled outside, still half crawling, he saw bodies everywhere. He could not tell if the people were dead. |
| Mr. Kokuvi still does not know if his friends made it out alive. “I’m worried,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. | Mr. Kokuvi still does not know if his friends made it out alive. “I’m worried,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. |
| Dozens of people were held hostage in the Splendid as chaos broke out on the street and the assailants barged in. | Dozens of people were held hostage in the Splendid as chaos broke out on the street and the assailants barged in. |
| Edward Bunker, an American health worker for a nongovernmental organization, told the BBC that he fled the lobby after hearing gunshots and retreated to his room, where he hunkered down with his computer in the bathroom, taking guidance from a security consultant he contacted using the hotel’s Wi-Fi. He spent the night there until French soldiers, who assisted Burkina Faso’s forces, stormed the hotel, arriving at his room. | Edward Bunker, an American health worker for a nongovernmental organization, told the BBC that he fled the lobby after hearing gunshots and retreated to his room, where he hunkered down with his computer in the bathroom, taking guidance from a security consultant he contacted using the hotel’s Wi-Fi. He spent the night there until French soldiers, who assisted Burkina Faso’s forces, stormed the hotel, arriving at his room. |
| Clément Sawadogo, a government minister, was in a fourth-floor meeting inside the hotel when he heard shots ring out. He dropped to the ground and lay still as attackers entered the room, shooting two or three people, he said. He was still playing dead when one returned to shoot the bodies, apparently to make sure that those who were on the floor were really dead. | Clément Sawadogo, a government minister, was in a fourth-floor meeting inside the hotel when he heard shots ring out. He dropped to the ground and lay still as attackers entered the room, shooting two or three people, he said. He was still playing dead when one returned to shoot the bodies, apparently to make sure that those who were on the floor were really dead. |
| Somehow, Mr. Sawadogo said, he was spared. | Somehow, Mr. Sawadogo said, he was spared. |