Al Qaeda claims responsibility for Ivory Coast hotel shooting in which 16 'including four Europeans' killed at resort

Attack on L'Etoile du Sud hotel in resort popular with Westerners claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb

Al Qaeda's North African branch has claimed responsibility for a terror attack on an Ivory Coast beach resort on Sunday in which 16 people, including four Europeans, were killed.

Six gunmen targeted hotels on a beach at Grand Bassam, a weekend retreat popular with Western expatriates about 25 miles east of the commercial capital Abidjan, before being killed in clashes with Ivorian security forces, the government said.

A top French expert said that the attack was "clearly against France", which has former colonial ties with the country and a continent of 600 soldiers nearby.

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