Gunmen stormed a beach town in Ivory Coast, killing at least 12 people, in what had been a quiet West African country and confirming fears that terrorists in the region are widening the scope of operations.
The attack began on Sunday afternoon, along the palm-tree-lined shore of Grand Bassam, a weekend getaway where wealthier Ivorians escape the nearby city of Abidjan. The old colonial town, a Unesco World Heritage site, is also popular with smaller crowds of expatriates, particularly from France, the country that ruled Ivory Coast until 1960.
Beachgoers were sunbathing and ordering grilled fish from food carts when the gunfire began, said Bram Posthumus, a freelance journalist who witnessed the attack. “There was a general panic. It was just people running…to get away.
They even left their bags on the beach, and they were running in their bathing suits and their shorts and their slippers.”
At least five foreigners and a child were among the dead, the government said. It added that it killed six attackers, a claim disputed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the terrorist outfit that struck hotels in Mali and Burkina Faso over the past four months and claimed Sunday’s assault.
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