Ivory Coast attack: 'at least 16 dead' after gunmen open fire at beach resort..

Four Europeans among dead and several injured after attackers launch assault on beach in Grand-Bassam, reports say. DGunmen from al-Qaida’s north African branch have killed at least 16 people, including four Europeans, after they opened fire near several hotels in the Ivory Coast. The shooting came amid fears the jihadi threat is spreading in west Africa. The government said security forces had killed the six assailants who launched attacks on three hotels in the popular seaside town of Grand-Bassam, a weekend retreat for residents of Abidjan, about 25 miles (40km) away. Koba Maiga, a local trader of Malian origin, said he was at the mosque when he heard gunfire at about 1.30pm local time. “We had the war here a few years ago so we know automatic weapons when we hear them. Initially no one in town thought much of it, though. On Sundays, there are sometimes clashes between the security forces and youths from Abidjan who come down to the coast and cause trouble on the beach,” he said. “It was carnage. They shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ [God is great]. They were getting people to shout those words and they killed anyone who didn’t. There were at least four of them. Three walked side-by-side along the beach and there was a fourth man who finished off any survivors. “A lot of people ran out into the sea to escape. So apart from the people who died from gunshots there may be people who have drowned and have been swept out to sea. They were sub-Saharan Africans. Even though they wore balaclavas everyone saw they had brown hands. Now it is calm, the Ivorian army is here. I am at the roundabout before the bridge. The beach area has been sealed off.”