Al-Qaeda gunmen drank in bar before unleashing Ivory Coast attack

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.

Sunday's raid, details of which are beginning to emerge in witness and official accounts, was the furthest yet from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's (AQIM) traditional desert base, a worrying indication of the militants' growing reach. The attack raised questions about Ivory Coast's preparedness for such an attack, with some asking why such a sensitive target was left so vulnerable.

Fifteen civilians and three members of the special forces were killed and 33 people were wounded in the attack in Grand Bassam, a weekend retreat popular with Ivorians and westerners about 25 miles east of the commercial capital Abidjan. Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko said another 26 wounded were still receiving medical attention on Monday, as President Alassane Ouattara declared three days of mourning for the country, which has never before been hit by al Qaeda.

 Three militants also died in the attack on the resort town, a Unesco heritage site of crumbling colonial-era buildings. Witness Christian Eddy said four men arrived in a Ford saloon car at the beachside bar where he works around noon on Sunday. While two remained outside, the two others entered and drank beers for around a half hour. They then launched the attack. "They didn't speak French. They spoke Arabic. We communicated with them in English ....

The guys who were still outside started shooting and the two seated at the table yelled 'Allahu Akbar' and flipped over the table," he said. He said the first victim was a boy who was made to kneel before he was shot. Bar staff tried to warn a deaf boy who was playing nearby. "People were yelling 'Come over here!' But he didn't know what was happening and just went down to the water. They shot him in the water," Mr Eddy said.

The gunmen then moved up the beach, continuing their killing spree and entering several seaside hotels. Surveillance footage from Hotel Etoile du Sud - one of the attackers' first targets where two people including a German woman and a Lebanese man were gunned down - showed the initial panic in the hotel bar.

The first police officers arrived on the scene around 15 minutes after the shooting began, witnesses said. It would be another half hour before special units from the security forces arrived from Abidjan. The victims included foreign citizens from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Mali. Four of the Europeans killed were French, while another was Henrike Grohs, 51, head of the Abidjan branch of Germany's Goethe Institut cultural body.

The attack is a heavy blow for Ivory Coast, which has recovered from more than a decade of political turmoil and a 2011 civil war to become one of the world's fastest growing economies. "Ivory Coast will not let itself be intimidated by terrorists," Mr Ouattara said in a televised address late on Monday. "Yes, Ivory Coast is on its feet. Yes, on its feet to combat the cowards and protect its people."

 AQIM has spread across the Sahara from Algeria and now operates in much of western and northern Africa. In January, gunmen killed dozens of people in a cafe frequented by foreigners in neighbouring Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, and also attacked a hotel. Militants attacked another hotel in the Malian capital Bamako late last year, killing 20.