A court in Burkina Faso has handed down life sentences to two individuals for their roles in a deadly 2017 attack on the Aziz Istanbul restaurant in the capital, Ouagadougou, which claimed 19 lives.
In August 2017, two gunmen opened fire on patrons at the Turkish-owned restaurant, located on Ouagadougou’s main avenue. The assault, which resulted in the deaths of 10 Burkinabe citizens and nine foreigners, ended when security forces killed the attackers. No group claimed responsibility for the incident, though it followed a pattern of assaults targeting areas frequented by expatriates.
The counterterrorism unit overseeing the case announced that the two defendants were convicted during a trial in November and sentenced to life imprisonment. They had been apprehended in 2018 after an extensive investigation.
Related Attacks and Context
The restaurant attack occurred just 200 meters from a hotel and cafe targeted in January 2016, where 30 people were killed and 71 injured. In March 2018, simultaneous assaults on the French embassy and army headquarters in Ouagadougou resulted in eight Burkinabe soldiers’ deaths.
Prosecutor Lafama Prosper Thiombiano revealed that eight suspects would soon face trial for their roles in the 2018 attacks, though no date has been set.
Burkina Faso, like its Sahel neighbors Mali and Niger, continues to grapple with a surge in attacks from insurgent armed groups. The unrest has posed significant challenges to the country’s military-led government and its counterterrorism efforts.