Terror against tourists 6 years ago: Ivory Coast locks up assassin on 14,000 people without electricity for life: feared right-wing extremists behind attacks on US power plants

The court in the metropolis of Abidjan found the four “guilty of the offenses they are accused of,” Judge Charles Bini announced. Among the 19 people killed in the attack was Henrike Grohs, then head of the Goethe-Institut in Abidjan.

In the port city of Grand-Bassam near Abidjan, several heavily armed men opened fire on bathers on the beach on March 13, 2016 and attacked three neighboring hotels. The carnage lasted 45 minutes and only ended when Ivorian security forces shot and killed the attackers. The Islamist group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqmi) claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Dozens of people were arrested after the attack. 18 have been charged in Ivory Coast with terrorism, murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of weapons, among other things. The four now convicted would have helped the attackers. One of them said he was a driver who worked for the suspected mastermind behind the attack, Kounta Dallah.

Seven others were sentenced in absentia

The 14 other suspects are on the run or are being held in Mali. Seven of them were sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia on Wednesday and the remaining seven were acquitted.

The attack in Grand-Bassam was the first on tourist targets in the Ivory Coast. Located about 40 kilometers east of Abidjan, the city of 80,000 with its colonial buildings is a World Heritage Site and a popular destination. (sda/afp)