THE OUAGADOUGOU ATTACKS: FRENCH AND US SPECIAL FORCES AGAINST TERRORISM
On January 15, 2016, six or seven terrorists set out to take “revenge on France and the unbelieving West” and carried out a terrorist attack in the capital of Burkina Faso.
At around 7:30 p.m., several off-road vehicles pulled up at the busy Cappuccino restaurant in the heart of Ouagadougou. The attackers got out, set ten parked cars on fire and then walked into the café shooting. According to witnesses, they fired at anyone who moved and picked out victims with white skin. Once many of the roughly 100 guests were lying dead or wounded on the floor, they went from person to person and shot their victims at point-blank range. The terrorists then crossed to the Splendid Hotel opposite, a popular destination for Western businessmen, where they took more than 150 hostages and barricaded themselves in. While local security forces sealed off the area, about ten ambulances carried the survivors of the first attack to hospital all night. The French meanwhile mobilized every special operations unit from neighboring Mali and the wider region to storm the hotel. 
At 1:00 a.m. the following day the counter-attack went in, carried by African commandos and supported by several French and American special operations units. The main effort came from the French 1er RPIMa (paratrooper SOF), Commandos Marine (naval SOF) and CPA10 (air force SOF). US forces reinforced the French with soldiers from Delta Force and the Marine Raiders. American reconnaissance capabilities were used on top of that.
After a heavy firefight about 30 civilians were freed, but the terrorists stayed dug in with most of the hostages. In the morning the security forces finally managed to secure the hotel and free 176 hostages in total.
Three terrorists were taken out. A fourth hostage-taker fled to another hotel and tried to dig in again, but the special forces neutralized him quickly. The remaining two or three attackers got away. In total, 30 civilians from 18 countries were killed in the attacks.
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