REUTERS/Bonaventure Pare

TORONTO (Reuters) - Two Canadians were among those killed in an attack on a Burkina Faso restaurant, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Monday, though she gave no information regarding the victims’ identities. OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — Suspected Islamic extremists opened fire at a Turkish restaurant late Sunday in the capital of Burkina Faso, killing at least 17 people in the second such attack on a restaurant popular with foreigners in the last two years. He said the dead were “mainly children and women.”

The victims are of several different nationalities, including two Kuwaitis and one person each from France, Senegal, Nigeria, Lebanon and Turkey, the foreign ministry said. On its website, Global Affairs Canada urges Canadians to avoid “all travel” to the northern area of Burkina Faso and its border with Mali as well as the W National Park. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence, which continued into the early hours Monday with yet another heavy exchange of gunfire overheard by witnesses. “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with those affected by the terror attacks in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.”

The attack brought back painful memories of the January 2016 attack at another cafe that left 30 people dead. (REUTERS/Reuters TV)

The three attackers in the 2016 massacre were of foreign origin, according to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which claimed responsibility in the aftermath along with the jihadist group known as Al Mourabitoun.
At least 17 people, including two Canadians, are reported dead and eight others injured in an attack on a Turkish themed restaurant in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.