[ad_1]
Employees load a body into a van after heavily-armed gunmen opened fire in the Ivory Coast resort town of Grand-Bassam, leaving bodies strewn on the beach, killing at least five people. The assailants, who were “heavily armed and wearing balaclavas,” fired at guests at the L’Etoile du Sud, a large hotel which was full of expats in the current heatwave, another witness told AFP.
SIA KAMBOU/AFP/Getty Images
Gunmen have killed at least 12 people at a beach resort in southern Ivory Coast, reports the BBC.
The assailants reportedly fired on beach-goers in the town of Grand-Bassam, about 25 miles east of capital city Abidjan.
The Daily Mail reports that footage from a hotel balcony showed people running from their lives as the shooters tried to gun down unarmed vacationers. Graphic images showed seven dead bodies scattered across the beach of the resort.
Several French nationals may have been killed in the deadly attack, with witnesses describing how the gunmen arrived on the beach via a boat armed with machine guns and hand grenades.
A witness of Sunday’s attack told AFP news agency that “heavily armed men wearing balaclavas” had opened fire near the L’Etoile du Sud hotel, which was full of expats in the current heatwave.
According to the BBC, Ivory Coast was seen as a model of stability in West Africa until a civil war erupted in 2002.The conflict pitted the mainly Muslim north against the largely Christian south. Since then, peace deals have alternated with renewed violence.
Luxury hotels were targeted by such groups in Mali in November and Burkina Faso in January.
Read more at the BBC and the Daily Mail.
[ad_2]
