OUAGADOUGOU, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- A group of gunmen attacked a Turkish restaurant in the center of the capital Burkina Faso on Sunday evening, leaving at least 17 dead and eight others injured, according to a government statement.
Authorities said the shooting broke out at the restaurant located on the Nkrumah Avenue in downtown Ouagadougou around 9 p.m. local time (2100 GMT). Security forces were dispatched to the scene and blocked the neighborhood.
Policemen were then engaged in a firefight with the attackers. Nearby residents were quoted by local reports as saying that gunshots and explosions were continuously heard.p The nationalities of the dead remain unclear, the statement said.
Police asked citizens to calm down and stay home, especially not to go to the city center. Up till now, the blockade has not been lifted.
In January, 2016, terrorists attacked Splendid Hotel, a luxury hotel and restaurant in the same neighborhood, causing around 30 deaths. Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb afterwards claimed responsibility for the incident on a website titled "Jihad."
A landlocked nation in West Africa, Burkina Faso has suffered several attacks in recent years.
