16 assailants, troops killed in Burkina attack – government source

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso  (UPDATED) – Sixteen people — 9 assailants and 7 members of the security forces — were killed in the capital of Burkina Faso on Friday, March 2, when armed men attacked the French embassy and the country’s military headquarters, a government source said.

The bloodiest clashes in Ouagadougou were in the assault on the armed forces’ HQ, where five attackers and five members of the security forces died, the official said.

The army’s medical chief, Colonel Amado Kafando, said 75 people were being treated for wounds, giving a still-incomplete toll.

In contrast, 3 security sources reached from Paris — two in France and one in West Africa — have sketched a higher death toll, saying at least 28 people died in the attack on the military HQ alone. – Rappler.com