The Ivorian government commissioner, Rear Admiral Ange Kessy, on Thursday, said on public television (RTI 1) that the attack against the Ndotre military camp in northern Abidjan did not come “from jihadists.”
“We have the preliminary findings of the investigation, which was launched on Wednesday,” said magistrate Ange Kessy, who revealed the identity of the arrested assailants, namely Bedel Rickens (Liberia), Kana Djimi (Liberia), Gnepa Valentin (Cote d’Ivoire) and a fourth with no identification papers.
Based on these data and the persistent calls from Liberia on the field of operations “we concluded that these are people who have their base in Liberia,” the military prosecutor said, noting that “only one mobile phone had rung 20 or 30 times.”
Certainly their accomplices “were calling to know the rest of the operations,” said Mr. Kessy, adding that knives and firearms were seized, as well as cell phones from the slain attackers.
These phones which belonged to the assailants “were ringing and the phone numbers which came out of these cell phones were from Liberia,” the Ivorian government commissioner went on to say.
“We had three deaths on the battlefield, the fourth attacker was wounded and we had time even at the level of the investigations to question him for 10 to 15 minutes before he succumbed to his wounds” at the Abidjan military hospital, he explained.
Colonel Boubacar Sakho, the Ivorian army spokesman, who was sitting next to him on the TV stage, reassured “the populations that all security arrangements had been taken so that they can go about their business peacefully.”
The populations “should in no way give in to any psychosis,” he said.
The attack targeted the police station at the main entrance to the Ndotre military camp, which hosts the battalion that was planned to replace take over from the Ivorian contingent in Timbuktu, Mali.
Cote d’Ivoire suffered two terrorist attacks on the night of March 28, 2021, targeting two army positions on the border with Burkina Faso, especially in Kafolo and Kolobougou.
AP/ls/fss/abj/APA