Terror in Burkina Faso: Al Qaeda jihadists - including two female fighters - are killed after murdering 28 people from 18 different countries as Commandos storm hotel and rescue hostages 

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A 15-hour terror attack by four jihadists at a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso has come to an end this morning after security forces stormed the building and rescued 156 of the hostages.

Burkinabe special forces, assisted by 30 French special forces, broke the lengthy siege and stormed the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou. Three of the gunmen were killed after a firefight before the hotel was re-captured by special forces.

28 people from 18 different countries were killed in the terror attack at the hotel in the Burkinabe capital. French newspaper Le Monde has reported that at least two of the victims are French. 

As many as 33 of the 156 survivors were also wounded during the attack, the Burkinabe Interior Ministry confirmed.

At least ten of the victims in the terror attack were gunned down at the Cappuccino Cafe, situated next door to the hotel. The attack has been claimed by al-Mourabitoun, an al-Qaeda affiliated group based in the Sahel region of northern Mali.

The Burkinabe President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré confirmed that a fourth gunman at the Yibi Hotel has been killed. He labelled the attacks 'cowardly and vile' and claimed that two of the four attackers are thought to have been female.

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French first responders tend to the wounds of one injured soldiers during the attack on the Splendid Hotel and Cafe Cappucino

A view shows vehicles on fire outside Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso during a siege by Islamist gunmen on Saturday

The charred remnants of several vehicles parked close to where the fighting took place inside the Splendid hotel

Security forces - led by the approximately 40 Burkinabe soldiers with the help of 30 French troops (pictured) and an American soldier helped storm the hotel and kill the three gunmen

Military investigators search through the debris of the Cappucino Cafe, where ten people were shot and killed by terrorists last night

One of the 33 wounded foreigners is thought to be talented French Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui

Initial reports said the masked militants set off suspected car bombs outside the hotel at 7.30pm last night before they stormed the hotel taking at least 100 people hostage. 

One survivor said diners at first mistook the gunfire and explosions for firecrackers before two gunmen, dressed all in black and brandishing AK-47 assault rifles, burst in firing indiscriminately.

'We heard shots, grenades, detonations. It was echoing and extremely loud. It went on for a long time,' the survivor, a Slovenian social anthropologist told Reuters.

'They kept coming back and forth into Cappuccino [Cafe]. You'd think it was over, then they'd come back and shoot more people. They would come back and see if the white people were moving and then they would shoot them again,' she said. 

A US defense official said France, the former colonial power of Burkina Faso, had requested US intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance support in the city, and at least one US military member was giving 'advice and assistance' to French forces at the hotel.     

Injured witnesses said the attackers claimed to be from ISIS, but a local Al Qaeda affiliated group called al-Mourabitoun, has reportedly claimed the attack on the capital in West Africa, according to SITE Intelligence Group.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a statement released on an encrypted messaging app.

The group said it targeted the Splendid Hotel because it is popular with foreigners, saying the attack was sent as a message 'written by the heroes of Islam with their blood and body parts', according to The New York Times.  

The statement was addressed to a foreign audience as 'the Cross-worshipers, the occupiers of our lands, the looters of our wealth and the abusers of our security'. It claimed the attack was intended 'to punish the Cross-worshipers for their crimes against our people in Central Africa, Mali and other lands of the Muslims, and to avenge our Prophet, God's peace and blessings be upon him'. 

Of those wounded is French national Leila Alaoui, who is undergoing surgery, according to New York Times contributor Aida Alami. 

'It was horrible, people were sleeping and there was blood everywhere. They were firing at people at close range,' Yannick Sawadogo, one of those who escaped, told AFP.

'We heard them speaking and they were walking around people and firing at people who were not dead. And when they came out they started a fire.' 

The blackened outside of the Splendid Hotel in the Burkinabe capital city of Ouagadougou, known locally as Ouaga

At least one member of US special forces were involved in the storming of the hotel alongside French and Burkinabe special forces

28 people from 18 different countries were killed in the terror attack at the hotel in the Burkinabe capital

Several traumatised hostages from the hotel are help out of a military vehicle after surviving the terrifying ordeal

Armed with machine guns and protected by a bulletproof shield, members of the Burkinabe special forces advance towards the building

French special forces were on hand to provide both strategic support and additional firepower for breaking the 15-hour siege

Burkina Faso's soldiers stand by for further orders as the hostages remained trapped inside the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou

Witnesses said the terrorists shot people who had not died and started a fire in the hotel

Robert Sangare, the head of Yalgado Ouedraogo hospital said one patient told him the attackers appeared to target white people

One hotel survivor contemplates the ordeal he has just been through after being rescued from the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou

Soldiers help to escort one badly hurt man out of the Splendid hotel, where 126 hostages are thought to have been rescued

A badly injured man is carried by several Burkinabe soldiers after being rescued from the deadly siege at the hotel

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, nicknamed Mr Marlboro for his expertises in financing terrorism through smuggling cigarettes, is believed to be the leader of the al-Qaeda linked al-Mourabitoun. Numerous claims have made that he has been killed in the past couple of years

al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) posted a statement on social media, claiming responsibility for the deadly attack in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso has largely been spared the violence wracked by Islamic extremist groups in northern neighbour Mali

In a message posted in Arabic on the militants' 'Muslim Africa' Telegram account, AQIM said fighters 'broke into a restaurant of one of the biggest hotels in the capital of Burkina Faso, and are now entrenched and the clashes are continuing with the enemies of the religion.' 

The same AQIM affiliate, Al-Mourabitoun, was responsible for the attack on the Radisson Hotel in Mali's capital last November, which left 27 people dead, including a number of foreign nationals. 

'For the dead, we do not have a precise figure, but there are at least 20 dead,' said Robert Sangare, the head of Yalgado Ouedraogo hospital last night.

'We have had at least 15 wounded with bullet wounds and others who suffered injuries during the panic to escape.'

Sangare said one European woman being treated at the hospital told him the attackers appeared to target white people.

The hotel is sometimes used by French troops with Operation Barkhane, a force based in Chad and set up to combat Islamist militants across West Africa's vast, arid Sahel region.  

Russia's Honorary Council in Burkina Faso, Anna Rachina-Kulibali, said foreigners were among the dead, 'possibly including Europeans'.  

'I utterly condemn the appalling attack in Ouagadougou last night and offer my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who have been killed and injured,' said the British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

Mr Hammond said that the United Kingdom stands with President Kaboré and the people of Burkina Faso in the fight against terrorism.

A general view shows fire beneath Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. al-Mourabitoun claimed responsibility for the attack

A fourth gunman has been gunned after special forces stormed a second hotel, the Yibi hotel, close to the Splendid Hotel

Gunfire: The masked men fired into the air to disperse the crowd and a police officer was shot trying to reach the Splendid hotel

Ablaze: Several cars were on on fire outside the hotel and the cafe after two loud explosions were reported on early Friday evening

Response: A U.S. defense official said that France had requested U.S. intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance support in the city and at least one U.S. military member in Burkina Faso was giving 'advice and assistance' to French forces at the hotel

Elite force: Security forces surrounded the hotel before the assault to rescue 126 hostages trapped inside the building

A police officer was shot trying to reach the Splendid hotel opposite where the attackers remain, according to officers.

A senior official with the national gendarmes said suspected Islamist fighters were holding a number of hostages, who have since been freed. 

The four-star hotel is reportedly used by UN agency staff and is near a cafe called Cappucino, said to be popular with expats, although U.N. spokesman in Ouagadougou, Emile Kabore, told CNN he did not believe any U.N. staffers are currently staying at the hotel.

A witness who gave only his first name, Gilbert, said that when security forces first arrived, they turned around rather than confront the attackers.

'But we know that the gunmen won't get out of the hotel alive,' he said. 'Our country is not for jihadists or terrorists. They got it wrong.'

The French Embassy in Burkina Faso released a statement on its website calling incident a 'terrorist attack' and urged its citizens to return home and to avoid the hotel, the Cafe Capuccino and Kwame N'Krumah Avenue.

The US Embassy in Ouagadougou tweeted: 'We are closely following the situation downtown.'

Al-Qaeda It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack, though jihadists have attacked hotels before in neighboring Mali, including a devastating attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in November that left 20 people dead.

The hotel is also reportedly used by French troops with Operation Barkhane, a force based in Chad and set up to combat Islamist militants

Injured: 33 people have been injured as pictures were posted to Twitter as the attack went on through the night

Security forces in Burkina Faso battled suspected Islamist fighters outside the Splendid Hotel in the capital's business district

The attack would be the first in Burkina's capital by Islamists in a country that is diverse in religious terms and has a population that is around 60 per cent Muslim, according to government figures. 

Burkina Faso, formerly known as Upper Volta, has no previous recent history of terror attacks and the capital, affectionately known by locals as Ouaga, is well known for its relaxed lifestyle and fun nightlife.

It comes as a setback to efforts by African governments, France and the United States to prevent attacks that have destabilized the region. 

The security of Burkina Faso now presents a significant challenge for the country's new President Roch Marc Kabore, who was elected in November 2015 as Burkina Faso's first new leader in decades.

The French embassy in December warned its citizens against traveling to a national park in eastern Burkina Faso after reports that Malian jihadists were threatening to kidnap foreigners.

An Islamist militant group Al-Mourabitoun said in May, 2015, it was holding a Romanian man kidnapped from a mine in northern Burkina Faso the previous month.

Around 50 unidentified gunmen attacked a Burkina Faso gendarmerie brigade near the country's western border with Mali in October 2015, killing three in an attack the then government blamed on the leaders of a failed coup one month before. 

Burkina Faso has endured bouts of political turmoil since October 2014 when veteran President Blaise Compaore was overthrown in a popular protest, but has been largely spared violence by Islamist militants who have staged attacks in neighboring Mali.

Two militants killed 20 people from nations including Russia, China and the United States at a luxury hotel in Mali's capital on November 20, 2015, before being killed by the security forces.

Three Islamist groups including al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed that attack, the most prominent by militants who are based in the north of the country and have staged a series of attacks over the last year.