An Austrian doctor and his wife have been kidnapped in Burkina Faso, disappearing on the night al-Qaeda militants killed at least 23 people at a hotel in the capital city.
The unidentified couple were abducted from Baraboulé, a town near the Malian border, the security ministry said.
Abi Ouattara, a spokesperson said “jihadists” were responsible and that the couple had been doing volunteer work.
Baraboulé lies more than 100 miles from Ouagadougou, where jihadists were battling security forces at the Splendid Hotel, and it was unclear whether the incidents were related.
There have been several kidnappings and attacks along Burkina Faso’s border with Mali, where the French army, UN and African Union members intervened to drive out Islamist militants in 2013.
A Romanian security officer was kidnapped while working for a mining company in Tambao in April and three members of Burkina Faso’s gendarmerie were killed in another attack along the border in October.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack but Islamist groups active in neighbouring countries were suspected.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises against all travel to northern Burkina Fasso, particularly to areas bordering Mali and Niger.
“There is a risk that terrorist groups including al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA) and al-Mourabitoun may cross the borders from Mali and northern Niger into Burkina Faso to carry out kidnap attacks,” its travel advice says.
More than 25 Westerners have been kidnapped in the Sahel region, including parts of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Senegal and other nations, since 2008 and many are still being held.
Al-Qaeda has been known to send its own militants or pay criminal gangs to carry out kidnappings on its behalf, sometimes taking foreigners to remote desert areas in northern Mali to be exchanged for multi-million dollar ransom payments.
Burkina Faso has been undergoing political turmoil since its president of 27 years was ousted in a popular uprising in late 2014, followed by a failed military coup in September last year.
Two women were among a group of militants that killed at least 23 people at the Splendid Hotel and an adjoining restaurant and took more than 100 hostages on Friday night.
Security forces freed the captives the following morning after an overnight operation that killed four militants.
A spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said officials were monitoring the situation closely.
“We are not aware of any British Nationals being caught up in the terrorist attack in Ouagadougou but are urgently looking into whether any have been affected,“ she added.
In a message posted in Arabic on its “Muslim Africa” Telegram account, al-Qaeda said its militants had fought “enemies of the religion” and killed “many crusaders”.
Friday's violence mirrored AQIM’s attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali in November that left 20 people dead after a seven-hour siege stopped by Malian troops backed by French and American special forces.
Additional reporting by agencies
