Ivory Coast Beach Resort

Gunmen from al Qaeda's North African branch drank beer at a beachside bar before launching a shooting rampage at an Ivory Coast resort town that left at least 18 people dead, the group's third major attack in West Africa in four months.

Heavily-armed men gunned down 16 people at an Ivory Coast resort Sunday in an attack claimed by an Al-Qaeda affiliate, leaving bodies strewn on the beach as fears grow of a mounting jihadist threat in West Africa.

A hotel was under attack today in the Ivory Coast beach resort of Grand-Bassam which is popular with Westerners, witnesses told AFP.

Gunmen from al Qaeda's North African branch drank beer at a beachside bar before launching a shooting rampage at an Ivory Coast resort town that left at least 18 people dead, the group's third major attack in West Africa in four months.

Heavily-armed men gunned down 16 people at an Ivory Coast resort Sunday in an attack claimed by an Al-Qaeda affiliate, leaving bodies strewn on the beach as fears grow of a mounting jihadist threat in West Africa.

A hotel was under attack today in the Ivory Coast beach resort of Grand-Bassam which is popular with Westerners, witnesses told AFP.