At least 29 people were killed and 33 injured on Friday when Isalmists affiliated with Al-Qaeda attacked a hotel in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, in West Africa. At least four terrorists, including one Arab and two black Africans, two of them women, took hostages at the hotel which is frequented by foreigners. Witnesses reported seeing a fifth terrorist fleeing the scene. A large force of French commandos arrived from neighboring Mali and stormed the building, fighting from floor to floor until midday Saturday, securing the release of 126 hostages. Among the dead are two French nationals and two Swiss.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the attack saying it was “revenge against France and the disbelieving West”, according to a statement carried by US-based monitoring group SITE. The attackers were members of the Al-Murabitoun group based in Mali and run by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, SITE said. The same group claimed responsibility for an attack at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in the Malian capital of Bamako, in which they took 170 hostages and killed 20 people.

The country has seen several changes of government in recent years, including a military coup in September 2015. There have been attacks by terror groups recently but this is the first such attack in the capital.

Standoff in Burkina Faso ends with 28 dead. https://t.co/tcIs7vtc8T pic.twitter.com/HVcEp9YEIM

— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) January 16, 2016