Monitoring and advising doesn’t count as boots on the ground.
STUTTGART, Germany — A small number of U.S. forces provided support to the military of Burkina Faso during a deadly weekend attack by al-Qaida-linked militants on a hotel and café in that nation’s capital. Africa Command said Sunday.
Twenty-eight people died and 54 were injured in the attack in Ouagadougou which started early Saturday and lasted about twelve hours. A total of 124 hostages were freed by the security forces.
“U.S. forces were primarily advising and providing information to the response forces from the Burkina Faso and French militaries,” said Chuck Prichard, a spokesman at Africa Command’s headquarters in Stuttgart. “A small number of U.S. forces directly assisted the recovery operation in the hotel.”
Both American and French military personnel provided support during the siege, helping to secure the area, Prichard said.
The attack, which resembles a similar November assault on an upscale hotel in Mali, served as a reminder of al-Qaida’s deadly reach into Africa.
That attack, which also involved a small number of U.S. and French forces providing assistance, resulted in nearly 20 people being killed.
Al-Qaida’s North Africa branch, known as AQIM, claimed responsibility for the attack in Burkina Faso.