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BURKINA FASO - FRANCE

Two French, one Portuguese living in France killed in Burkina Faso hotel attacks

Two French nationals and their Portuguese colleague are among the dead indentified after the Al Qaida attack on two hotels and a restaurant in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou. A number of bodies remain to be identified because they were badly burnt in the fire set by the attackers in the Capuccino café-restaurant where the three were killed.

One of the wounded being cared for in Ouagadougou's Yagaldo Ouédraogo on 16 January 2016
One of the wounded being cared for in Ouagadougou's Yagaldo Ouédraogo on 16 January 2016 Issouf Sanogo/AFP
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Arnaud Cazier, Eddie Touati and Antonio De Oliveira Basto were shot dead as they dined together at the Capuccino, an eatery patronised by foreigners opposite the Splendid Hotel, which was the chief target of the attackers from the Al Qaida-linked Al-Murabitoun group.

All three were in Ouagadougou on behalf of their employer, transport company Scales which is based just outside Paris.

Cazier and Touati were French nationals and De Oliveira Basto was Portuguese, although he had lived in France since 1981 and was married to a Frenchwoman.

De Oliveira Basto's body will be repatriated "just as our deceased compatriots will be" and his family will be entitled to compensation, a French foreign affairs ministry spokesperson said.

No other French victims are known to be among the 29 dead but some of the bodies have yet to be identified.

Thirteen foreigners, including six Canadians, two Swiss and an American, have been named.

French-Moroccan photographer Leila Alaoui, whose work is currently on show in Paris's European photography museum, was seriously wounded but was in a stable condition being operated on, according to her mother.

Because there were French victims, an legal inquiry has been opened in France and six French anti-terror experts left for Ouagadougou on Saturday to help local investigators.

Burkina Faso declared three days of national mourning after the violence and security forces launched a search for any attackers who might have escaped.

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