Another Islamist terroist attack. Here in the Ivory Coast.

Ivory Coast: Shooting at Grand Bassam beach resort

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Media captionUnverified footage is believed to show people fleeing from the attack in Grand Bassam

Gunmen have attacked a hotel in the beach resort of Grand Bassam in Ivory Coast, with several deaths reported.

Eyewitnesses say unidentified, heavily armed assailants fired on guests at the Etoile du Sud hotel. Security forces have been sent to the scene.

Grand Bassam, 40km (25 miles) east of the commercial capital Abidjan, is popular with locals and foreigners.

Ivory Coast was seen as a model of stability in West Africa until a civil war erupted in 2002.

The conflict pitted the mainly Muslim north against the largely Christian south. Since then, peace deals have alternated with renewed violence.

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionSecurity forces have been sent to the scene

Radio France Internationale quotes a military official as saying five people were killed, but other reports put the death toll higher.

A witness of Sunday's attack told AFP news agency that "heavily armed men wearing balaclavas" had fired at guests at the L'Etoile du Sud hotel, which AFP says was full of expats in the current heatwave.

BBC regional reporter Maud Jullien says Ivory Coast has been identified as one of several countries in West Africa at risk of being targeted by Islamist militants.

Luxury hotels in countries further north have already been targeted by such groups.

In June 2015, 38 people - most of them British tourists - were shot dead in the Tunisian resort of Sousse, in an attack claimed by the self-styled Islamic State (IS). 

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