DHAKA: At least 20 people have been killed and another 15 wounded on Friday in an ongoing Al Qaeda attack on a hotel in the capital of Burkina Faso popular with United Nations staff and westerners.

Gunshots and explosions rocked Ouagadougou's four-star Splendid hotel and the nearby "Cappuccino" restaurant as Burkinabe forces prepared an assault to rescue hostages still trapped inside the hotel, reports the NDTV.

Officials said French forces could join a counter-assault on the hotel, where assailants were apparently still holed up more than three hours after the attack began.

The attack comes less than two months after a jihadist hostage siege at the luxury Radisson Blu Hotel in the Malian capital Bamako in November, in which 20 people died including 14 foreigners.

BDST: 0823  HRS, JAN 16, 2016
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