World Bulletin / News Desk

Security forces in Burkina Faso  ended a siege at hotel and a restaurant that were stormed by Al Qaeda linked gunmen, killing three fighters and freeing 126 people, but another assault was ongoing at second hotel nearby.

"The attacks on the Splendid Hotel and the Cappuccino are over. But an assault is ongoing at the Hotel Ybi" next to the Cappuccino, Interior Minister Simon Compaore told AFP.

Communication minister Remis Dandjinou told AFP the assault was carried out by Burkinabe troops with the support of French special forces. He also said that among those who escaped unharmed was Labour Minister Clement Sawadogo.

Early Saturday, a fire raged at the main entrance of the 147-room hotel in Ouagodougou and screams could be heard from inside, while on the street outside about 10 vehicles were set alight.

"It was horrible, people were sleeping and there was blood everywhere. They were firing at people at close range," Yannick Sawadogo, one of those who escaped, told AFP.

"We heard them speaking and they were walking around people and firing at people who were not dead. And when they came out they started a fire."

The attack comes less than two months after a jihadist hostage siege at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in the Malian capital Bamako left 20 people dead, including 14 foreigners -- an attack claimed by the same Al-Qaeda affiliate behind the unfolding Ouagadougou assault.

Source: AFP