Qaeda militants killed one American in an attack on two hotels and a cafe in the capital of Burkina Faso that left at least 28 people dead and 56 injured on Friday and Saturday, the State Department said on Saturday night.
A State Department spokesman, John Kirby, identified the victim as Michael James Riddering. Mr. Kirby said that Mr. Riddering was killed during the course of the attack on two hotels, the Splendid and the Yibi, and a restaurant, Cappuccino Cafe, that sparked a 15-hour standoff in the heart of Ouagadougou, the capital.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time, as they are with all those affected by this brutality,” Mr. Kirby said.
Mr. Riddering, 45, was a missionary who worked at the Les Ailes de Refuge Orphanage in the town of Yako, 70 miles from the capital, according to a statement from the organization that runs the orphanage, Sheltering Wings.
It said that he moved to Burkina Faso from Florida, where he sold boats, in 2011 with his wife, Amy, and daughter Delaney to do missionary work.
“Heaven has gained a warrior!” Amy Riddering wrote on Facebook on Saturday in memory of her husband. “I know God has a purpose in all things but sometimes it is a complete mystery to me.”
“My heart is so heavy and I am having trouble believing he is gone,” she added. “Mike was an example in the way he lived and loved. God be glorified!”
On Saturday, the missionary organization provided a detailed account of Mr. Riddering’s trip to Ouagadougou. It said he went to the capital on Friday with a co-worker, identified only as Pastor Valentin, to meet a group of missionaries who had just arrived from the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/world/africa/american-missionary-among-the-dead-in-burkina-faso-siege.html?ref=world&_r=0
