- 17 minutes ago
- From the section Africa
Al-Qaeda-linked militants have killed at least 14 civilians and two soldiers in a gun attack on a beach resort in south-eastern Ivory Coast.
The attackers fired on beach-goers in Grand Bassam, about 40km (25 miles) from the commercial capital Abidjan.The resort is popular with both locals and foreigners. One of the dead was French, France's foreign ministry says.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed the attack. The gunmen have been "neutralised", officials say.
Ivory Coast was once one of the most stable countries in West Africa.
However, a civil war broke out in 2002, pitting the mainly Muslim north against the largely Christian south. Since then, peace deals have alternated with renewed violence.
Analysis: Tomi Oladipo, BBC Africa security correspondent
The attack confirms the fears of the Ivorian government, which has attempted to beef up security, particularly in its northern border regions, to keep Islamist militants out.Grand Bassam is all the way to the south on the Atlantic coast, though. That shows that the militants have not just crossed the border but they might have even have a greater presence in the country. It furthers prove the capacity of jihadists to blend into the public and strike soft targets.
This threat is spreading across West Africa. To halt it, regional governments would need to step up their act in policing, as well as gathering and acting on intelligence individually and collectively.
France, too, is likely to boost its military campaign to protect its vast and entrenched interests in its former colonies.
A witness of Sunday's attack told AFP that "heavily armed men wearing balaclavas" had opened fire near the L'Etoile du Sud hotel, which was full of expats.
French President Francois Hollande condemned the "cowardly attack" in which a French national died. There is no word so far on the nationalities of other victims.
Image copyright Reuters 
Image copyright Reuters AQIM claimed deadly attacks on luxury hotels in Mali in November and Burkina Faso in January.
The group, which has its origin in Algeria's civil war of the 1990s, has expanded across the Sahel regions south of the Sahara in recent years.
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