# CAN casulaties in Burkina Faso



## The Bread Guy (16 Jan 2016)

The latest, from The Canadian Press:


> Six Canadians died in an attack on a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Saturday.
> 
> Four jihadist attackers linked to al-Qaida were killed by Burkina Faso and French security forces hours after they stormed the Splendid Hotel and nearby Cappuccino Cafe in Ouagadougou, establishments popular with westerners in the West African country's capital.
> 
> ...


Our PM's comments:


> The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement condemning the terrorist attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, that killed several people, including six Canadian citizens, and injured many more.
> 
> "Canada strongly condemns the deadly terrorist attacks that took place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
> 
> ...


Map of where Burkina Faso is in Africa attached.

More in the news on this attack here (Google News) and here (European Commission news aggregator).

More on the country here (CIA World Factbook), here (BBC) and here (Wikipedia)

A bit of its conflict history at the International Crisis Group (short & sweet monthly updates) here.

Starting this here in Current Events - may move into African mega-thread once events/explanations settle a bit.

- mod edit to shorten thread title -


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## The Bread Guy (17 Jan 2016)

More on the Canadians killed, via CBC.ca:


> The six Quebecers, including a family of four, who were killed during a 12-hour siege Friday in Burkina Faso were on a humanitarian mission.
> 
> Gladys Chamberland and her spouse Yves Carrier, 65, along with their children Charlerie et Maud, died when four jihadist attackers linked to al-Qaeda stormed the Splendid Hotel and nearby Cappuccino Café in the capital of Ouagadougou.
> 
> ...



This, from Global Affairs Canada:


> The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, today issued the following statement concerning the deaths of more than 20 civilians, including six Canadians, in yesterday’s terrorist attack in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso:
> 
> “On behalf of the Government of Canada, we extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of those killed in yesterday’s attack in Ouagadougou, among them Canadian aid workers and volunteers, and wish a speedy recovery to those injured.
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (18 Jan 2016)

This from Reuters:


> Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) on Monday identified three fighters it says were responsible for attacks in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou over the weekend that killed 29 people.
> 
> Gunmen from the Islamist militant group stormed the Cappuccino restaurant and the Splendid Hotel on Friday night, singling out white people for slaughter. Eight Burkinabes, six Canadians, three Ukrainians and two French people were killed, among others.
> 
> ...


If you want to download the statement (in Arabic) from a non-terrorist site, check here.


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## Humphrey Bogart (18 Jan 2016)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> This from Reuters:If you want to download the statement (in Arabic) from a non-terrorist site, check here.



I would love a little Beau Geste in the Desert.


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## The Bread Guy (18 Jan 2016)

Humphrey Bogart said:
			
		

> I would love a little Beau Geste in the Desert.


As mentioned elsewhere, we've helped the French in Mali fight pretty ugly bad guys before, so some of the PowerPoint decks must already be templated _somewhere_ ;D


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## The Bread Guy (19 Jan 2016)

From the _Globe & Mail_:


> The mother of one of the victims in the Burkina Faso terrorist attack has sharply criticized the Trudeau government for plans to withdraw fighter jets from the fight against the Islamic State instead of boosting the military response.
> 
> Camille Carrier, whose daughter Maude was among the six Canadians killed at a hotel and café in Ouagadougou Friday night, said she is ashamed the Canadian government is not standing more forcefully with allies such as France in the fight against terror.
> 
> “I was ashamed before this happened, but obviously the loss of my daughter has only made me more revolted about this situation,” said Ms. Carrier, a retired administration professor at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. “I’m so ashamed of my country.” ...


Holy "events", Batman ...


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## Oldgateboatdriver (19 Jan 2016)

Doesn't she understand it's because the "Kid" doesn't get invited when the adults make decisions:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-not-invited-isis-paris-meeting-1.3409420


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## George Wallace (19 Jan 2016)

Oldgateboatdriver said:
			
		

> Doesn't she understand it's because the "Kid" doesn't get invited when the adults make decisions:
> 
> http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-not-invited-isis-paris-meeting-1.3409420



More from the Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/premier-couillard-says-quebeckers-died-at-the-hands-of-barbarians/article28239169/


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## The Bread Guy (24 Jan 2016)

French-Canadian media:  Quebecers killed in Burkina Faso attack returning to Canada Tuesday (in French) - Google English:


> The bodies of six aid workers from the Quebec City area who were killed in the terrorist attack on 15 January in Burkina Faso should be repatriated Tuesday, reports the Associated Press today.
> 
> This was said to news agency Frédéric Carrier, who lost his father and sister in the AQIM attack in Ouagadougou on January 15 that made ​​a total of 30 deaths.
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (2 Jun 2016)

Busted!


> Police in Burkina Faso arrested six “foreigners” suspected of being behind the jihadist attacks in January that left 30 people dead in the West-African nation, police and government officials said on Wednesday.
> 
> According to a press statement released by the police on Wednesday, the suspects arrested on Monday had sheltered the attackers, three of whom were killed during the January 15 raid, and were in contact with the mastermind of the plot.
> 
> Burkina’s Minister of Internal Security, Simon Compaore, told reporters the arrests were made thanks to intelligence shared by other West African security forces ...


More here and (in French) here.


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## The Bread Guy (14 Aug 2017)

Sucks to have to add _another_ one to this thread - and have to change the thread title  

_*"Former Toronto teacher and Montreal-based volunteer killed in Burkina Faso attack"*_ (CBC)
_*"The two Canadians killed in a suspected terrorist attack in Burkina Faso have been identified as Tammy Chen of Ontario and Bilel Diffalah, a volunteer for a Quebec-based anti poverty group.  The incident happened late Sunday when suspected Islamic terrorists opened fire at a Turkish restaurant in the country’s capital, killing 18 people in all ..."*_ (CP via _Globe & Mail_)
_*"At Least 18 Dead After Gunmen Seize A Cafe For Hours In Burkina Faso"*_ (Alabama Public Radio)
_*"18 killed and several others injured as Burkina Faso restaurant attacked"*_ (SOFREP.com)
_*"Seventeen killed, eight wounded in attack on Burkina Faso restaurant: minister"*_ (Reuters)
More via Google News, Bing News, Yahoo and the EC's news aggregator


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## OldSolduer (17 Jan 2019)

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/17/kidnapped-canadian-found-dead-burkina-faso-officials-say

And now this


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## The Bread Guy (17 Jan 2019)

Some of the latest ...

_*"Canadian man's bullet-riddled body found in Burkina Faso, officials say"*_ (The Canadian Press)
More on kidnapping/death here via Google News
_*"Canadian and Italian tourists feared kidnapped in Burkina Faso"*_ (BBC, 7 Jan 2019)
More on Edith Blais here via Google News
Global Affairs Canada travel advisory for BFA here, recent U.S. Embassy alerts here, and GardaWorld (private sector security firm) country/threat profile here - map also attached.


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## tomahawk6 (17 Jan 2019)

The host country has a duty to protect their guest workers or else they wont be able to attract foreign workers.


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## YZT580 (17 Jan 2019)

tomahawk6 said:
			
		

> The host country has a duty to protect their guest workers or else they wont be able to attract foreign workers.


  Great in theory but as John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and a host of other victims in the western world could attest, you cannot guard against all eventualities.  Careful planning and surprise can beat almost every precaution.  Most times that attacks are prevented are because someone blabbed and someone else heard them.  Occasionally good intel. works as well but that is often more luck than good planning.


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## tomahawk6 (17 Jan 2019)

I was thinking guarding the work place and their home and their transport between work and home.


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## YZT580 (17 Jan 2019)

They try.  The hotel in Kenya for example had armed guards on duty.  The same applies to every hotel I've visited in all UN missions.  The mining companies in Mali maintain their own platoons of mercenaries but the manpower isn't sufficient to cover every employee (not even just the specialists which this guy was.  Besides it would take a gutsy guard to take on a dozen radicals which evidently there were in this case even if he were standing nearby.  The only result would be two bodies


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## The Bread Guy (28 Mar 2019)

Hamish Seggie said:
			
		

> https://www.google.ca/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/17/kidnapped-canadian-found-dead-burkina-faso-officials-say
> 
> And now this


It's taken a while, but here's the latest ...


> The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility Thursday for the killing of a Canadian geologist kidnapped from a mining camp in Burkina Faso two months ago.
> 
> The claim appeared in the latest issue of the ISIS propaganda newsletter Al-Naba along with what appeared to be a photo of Kirk Woodman’s Nova Scotia driver’s license.
> 
> ...


More @ link

A couple of Twitter hits from groups tracking ISIS propaganda, attached.


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## The Bread Guy (31 Mar 2019)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> Some of the latest ...
> 
> _*"Canadian and Italian tourists feared kidnapped in Burkina Faso"*_ (BBC, 7 Jan 2019)
> More on Edith Blais here via Google News
> Global Affairs Canada travel advisory for BFA here, recent U.S. Embassy alerts here, and GardaWorld (private sector security firm) country/threat profile here - map also attached.


The latest:  a human rights group quotes a Mali security official saying they were, indeed, kidnapped and moved to Mali ...


> A Canadian woman who’s been missing in West Africa for several months has reportedly been kidnapped and taken to Mali.
> 
> Edith Blais of Quebec and her travel companion, Luca Taccheto of Italy, went missing in December while travelling in Burkina Faso.
> 
> ...


More @ link

*** -- _"Atrocities by Armed Islamists and Security Forces in Burkina Faso’s Sahel Region"_ report available via HRW here (also available in French).


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## The Bread Guy (3 Apr 2019)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> ...
> _*"Canadian man's bullet-riddled body found in Burkina Faso, officials say"*_ (The Canadian Press)
> More on kidnapping/death here via Google News
> ...





			
				milnews.ca said:
			
		

> It's taken a while, but here's the latest ...
> 
> 
> > The so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility Thursday for the killing of a Canadian geologist kidnapped from a mining camp in Burkina Faso two months ago.
> ...


A bit more detail coming out ...


> Islamic State claimed to have kidnapped and killed a Canadian citizen in Burkina Faso in January, but security sources said they believed he actually died during a botched attempt by a criminal gang to sell him on to another group.
> 
> Canadian geologist Kirk Woodman’s body was found on Jan. 16, two days after his abduction by a dozen gunmen at a mining site operated by Vancouver-based Progress Minerals in the northeast of the landlocked West African country.
> 
> ...


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## The Bread Guy (13 Apr 2019)

A bit more on the missing QC woman, from Italian media, via CBC.ca ...


> A Quebec woman and her Italian travel companion who went missing in West Africa late last year are still alive, but no longer in Burkina Faso, according to a government official of the African country, speaking on an Italian news channel.
> 
> Édith Blais, a 34-year-old Sherbrooke resident, and Luca Tacchetto, a 30-year-old Italian national, went missing from southwestern Burkina Faso in December, after having travelled by car through Mali.
> 
> ...


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## Colin Parkinson (15 Apr 2019)

Interesting, then there is a ransom demand on the table.


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## The Bread Guy (14 Mar 2020)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> ...
> _*"Canadian and Italian tourists feared kidnapped in Burkina Faso"*_ (BBC, 7 Jan 2019)
> ...


A bit of good news  ...


> A Canadian woman and Italian man kidnapped in Burkina Faso in December 2018 have been released to the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission in neighboring Mali and appear to be in good health, a mission spokesman said on Saturday.
> 
> Edith Blais and Italian Luca Tacchetto went missing while traveling through Burkina Faso, a country where jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State are active and have kidnapped Westerners in the past.
> 
> It is not known who was responsible for Blais and Tacchetto’s kidnapping or if any ransom was paid.


More via Bing News here.


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## The Bread Guy (14 Mar 2020)

A bit more detail ...


> A Canadian woman and an Italian man kidnapped in Burkina Faso in 2018 are said to be in good health and spirits after arriving in neighbouring Mali.
> 
> Édith Blais and Luca Tacchetto, both in their 30s, apparently escaped and were picked up by UN forces before being transferred to Mali's capital, Bamako.
> 
> ...


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## OldSolduer (15 Mar 2020)

Good to see they have been let go. 👍


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## tomahawk6 (29 Mar 2020)

Hamish Seggie said:
			
		

> Good to see they have been let go. 👍



Quite.They also didn't want a visit by French commando's.


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