An Australian couple have been abducted in northern Burkina Faso, according to local government officials.
The news comes after Burkina Faso and French forces took back a luxury hotel in the capital, Ouagadougou, which had been attacked by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants Friday night. The violence left at least 23 dead, according to reports, and 126 hostages were freed.
A local al-Qaeda affiliate, AQIM, claimed responsibility for the hotel attack
It had previously been reported that an Austrian doctor and his wife were kidnapped by extremists in the country’s north, but on Saturday, Burkina Faso’s Minister of Security and Internal Affairs Simon Compaore clarified the couple were Australian, not Austrian. It is not clear if the kidnapping is related to events in Ouagadougou. Read more…
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