Gunmen have stormed a luxury hotel in the centre of Burkina Faso's capital city, taking hostages and killing at least 20 people, eyewitnesses and officials at the scene have said.
The director of the university hospital who spoke to patients wounded in the attack at Hotel Splendide in downtown Ouagadougou late on Friday said around 20 people have been killed.
"We have received around 15 wounded people. There are people with bullet wounds and people who are injured because of falls," said Robert Sangare, director of Ouagadougou's university hospital centre
The armed group have also taken an unknown number of hostages during the attack , a senior official with the national gendarmes said.
The country's foreign minister, Alpha Barry, told Reuters people had died in the attack and Special Forces have secured a perimeter around the hotel and await an order to begin an assault. The number of people killed has not been confirmed.
"It is continuing at this time. We are trying to know how many attackers they are to better coordinate our actions. Hostages have been taken. The operation could take several hours," an officer said, asking not to be named.
The gunmen were said to have fired in the air as they stormed the four-story hotel before security forces arrived.
An intense exchange of gunfire between the gunmen and police followed, according to a Reuters witness.
A journalist at the scene said US troops were also conducting a rescue mission at the hotel, CNN reports
Mr Barry said the government will not rule out calling for help from French special forces stationed in the country.
Several cars were ablaze outside the hotel, an Associated Press reporter near the scene on Friday said.
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Reports over Twitter suggest a cafe-restaurant opposite the hotel, which is popular with westerners, has also been targeted.
The French embassy in Burkina Faso have called the incident a "terrorist attack" and have called on people in the area to "go home".
Gilles Thibault, the French Ambassador to Burkina Faso, repeated the assertion on Twitter and has extended a curfew for the area from 11pm to 6am.
Mr Thibault also added an Air France flight from Paris to Ouagadougou was diverted on Friday night to Niamey, Niger.
The U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou tweeted: "We are closely following the situation downtown."
The hotel is sometimes used by French troops with Operation Barkhane, a force based in Chad and set up to combat Islamist militants across Africa's vast, arid Sahel region.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have said on it was responsible the ongoing attack, SITE Intelligence Group reported.
A senior member of the group had called in December for Muslims in several countries, including Burkina Faso, to wage jihad.
AQIM, along with two other groups, also claimed responsibility for an attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali, which killed 20 people in November.
Two militants killed 20 people from nations including Russia, China and the United States at the luxury hotel in Mali's capital on 20 November, before being killed by the security forces.
Burkina Faso has endured bouts of political turmoil since 2014 when veteran President Blaise Compaore was overthrown in a popular protest.
Additional reporting by various agencies
