Image: A soldier comforts an injured boy in Bassam, Ivory Coast, March 13, 2016. REUTERS/Joe Penney
GRAND BASSAM, Ivory Coast (Reuters) – Unidentified gunmen staged an attack on a beach at a resort town in Ivory Coast on Sunday, killing at least seven people, a witness said.
The shooting took place at Grand Bassam, a weekend retreat for Abidjan residents about 40 km east of the commercial capital Abidjan. Its beaches, bars and hotels are popular with Westerners.
The gunmen were not identified and it was unclear if they were affiliated with any militant group. Security forces were called to the scene.
“I saw seven dead that I filmed. There were four attackers. I was swimming when it’started and I ran away,” said Dramane Kima, who showed the video of the bodies to Reuters.
He also took pictures of grenades and ammunition clips that he believed had been left behind by the attackers.
A Reuters witness saw two wounded people.
The incident took place nearly two months after Islamist fighters killed dozens of people in a hotel and cafe frequented by foreigners in neighbouring Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, raising concern that the reach of militancy in West Africa was spreading.
(Reporting By Ange Aboa and Joe Bavier, Writing by Edward McAllister, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Copyright 2015 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.
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