Grand-Bassam : Ivory Coast authorities ordered three days of mourning and tightened security at public places and at its borders Monday as the death toll from the first jihadist attack on its soil climbed to 18.
"Their aim was to frighten us, we will not let ourselves be scared," said Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko after emergency government talks.
Armed with grenades and assault rifles, gunmen Sunday stormed three hotels and sprayed the beach with bullets in the resort of Grand-Bassam, a sleepy town popular with expats just a short 40-kilometre drive from the commercial capital Abidjan.
The attack claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) left 15 civilians dead, including a German woman, as well as killing three special forces troops, the government said. A total of 33 people were injured, 26 of whom are still in hospital.
France said four of its nationals were among the dead.
AQIM's real target was France, analysts said, punished both as Ivory Coast's former colonial master and for hunting down jihadists in Mali and elsewhere.
Bakayoko said "three terrorists were killed" in the assault.
Asked whether more gunmen were involved some witnesses had reported six attackers the minister said "we're still looking. We don't suspect more but we're making sure we carry out the widest possible sweep."
Along with a three-day national mourning period starting Monday, he said the West African nation would boost security at "strategic sites and in public places... (such as) schools, embassies, international institutions... and the borders."
In the latest such jihadist assault in West Africa, witnesses described the panic as gunfire rang out across the sand and an assailant shouted "Allahu Akbar" Arabic for "God is greatest".
