(New York, NY) – The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is releasing updated resources on violent Islamic terror groups al-Mourabitoun and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), following their attacks across the West African country of Burkina Faso that left at least 30 people dead, including one American, and wounded at least 50.
On the night of January 15, four gunmen attacked the Splendid Hotel, in the capital of Ouagadougou, as well as a nearby coffee shop called Le Cappuccino. Both are popular with business travelers. By early Saturday, government soldiers and French special forces had taken control of the hotel, freeing 126 people still trapped inside and killing three of the attackers. A fourth attacker later ran into a nearby hotel before being killed as well, according to Burkina Faso officials. The attacks in the capital killed 28 people from 18 nations, while a separate rocket attack on a police station in the northeast part of the country killed one officer and a civilian.
American Michael James Riddering, 45, was among those who died at the café. He had moved to Burkina Faso with his wife to run an orphanage and women's crisis center and was waiting with a friend for a team of missionaries visiting from the U.S.
The gun attack on the Splendid Hotel bore a striking similarity to the one carried out in neighboring Mali on November 20, in which 22 people died. While Mali has suffered many attacks, this is the first time al-Mourabitoun and AQIM have carried out an attack in Burkina Faso. In a statement released after the attacks, the group claimed the Splendid Hotel was "frequented by staff of the nations of global disbelief" and that attack was "to punish the cross-worshippers for their crimes against our people in Central Africa, Mali, and other lands of the Muslims."
Al-Mourabitoun believes it has a “Shari’a-based duty” to unite Africa’s Muslims and Islamic movements against secular and non-Muslim influences. The leader of al-Mourabitoun, Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, 43, is one of the most deadly terrorists in Africa. Belmokhtar helped establish AQIM and in 2013, he masterminded the four-day siege at Algeria’s Amenas gas plant that killed 38 hostages, including three Americans. At least three times, Belmokhtar has been targeted, yet each time he has survived.
Prior to the Mali attack on November 20, al-Mourabitoun gunmen claimed credit for the August 7, 2015, attack of the Hotel Byblos in the central Malian town of Sevare that killed nine civilians and four Malian soldiers. And in March 2015, al-Mourabitoun attacked La Terrasse—a restaurant frequented by expatriates—in the Malian capital of Bamako, killing one Belgian security officer, three Malians, and wounding nine others.
To learn more about Mokhtar Belmokhtar, click here.
To view the Threat Report on terror group al-Mourabitoun, click here.
To view the Threat Report on terror group AQIM, click here.