Militants Carry Out Deadly Attacks in Burkina Faso

Militants carried out simultaneous attacks Friday morning on the military headquarters of Burkina Faso and the French Embassy in the nation’s capital, the government said.

It appeared to be another stunning assault by Islamist militants in Burkina Faso, a West African nation that has suffered two big deadly attacks by jihadis in the past two years.

The assault on the military headquarters appeared to have been aimed at a gathering of senior officers, according to Security Minister Clément Sawadogo, who told journalists that the army might have been “decapitated” had the meeting not been fortuitously moved to a different location at the last minute.

By nightfall, a full picture of the situation was still coming into view, but the government reported that at least eight members of the security forces, as well as eight assailants, died in the attacks.

Government officials did not assign specific blame for the gunfire and explosions that erupted in the downtown area of Ouagadougou, the capital, but the focus fell on radical jihadi groups that have attacked the city in the past. Officials said the attackers shouted “God is great” in Arabic.

The state broadcaster RTB showed video of soldiers closing around one of the buildings involved, with gunshots echoing, a helicopter swooping low overhead and a car ablaze nearby.

In 2016 and again last year, jihadis attacked civilian sites that were popular with Westerners — cafes and a hotel — killing a total of 49 people.

Paul Kaolaga, a terrorism analyst with the Strategic Network on Security in the Sahel, said the military, supported by French special forces, had reasserted control at both attack scenes.

In recent years, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has pushed south from its base in Algeria, into Mali, and then to Burkina Faso. In aiding the fight against terrorist groups, Kaolaga said, Burkina Faso has become one of their targets.

Aurélia Laget, a spokeswoman for the French Institute in Ouagadougou, which is near the embassy, said that workers there had taken shelter and that sounds of fighting had gone on for more than an hour. “We heard gunfire for sure, and explosions, I think,” she said.

Some witnesses said the gunmen at the embassy set fire to their vehicle when they arrived, which could have caused an explosion.

President Emmanuel Macron of France called President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso and condemned the attack in “the strongest terms,” Macron’s office said in a statement.

France leads a 5,000-member multinational force — including troops from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Chad and Mauritania — that is trying to combat terrorism in the region.

The State Department urged Americans on Friday to reconsider travel to the country.

“Terrorist groups continue plotting attacks in Burkina Faso,” it said in a travel advisory. “Terrorists may conduct attacks anywhere with little or no warning. Targets could include hotels, restaurants, police stations, customs offices, military posts and schools.”

Blaise Compaoré, the longtime president of Burkina Faso, a former French colony once known as Upper Volta, was ousted in a popular uprising in late 2014; a coup was mounted the following year but ultimately failed. Kaboré took office at the end of 2015.