Eleven people convicted for extremist attack in Ivory Coast

By TOUSSAINT N’GOTTA
Associated Press

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Eleven people were sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after being convicted of an Islamic extremist attack that killed 19 people and injured dozens more on an Ivory Coast tourist beach nearly seven years ago. The killings in the resort area of Grand-Bassam were perpetrated by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and were the nation’s first extremist attack of its kind and one of the bloodiest in the region. The long-awaited verdict was read by Judge Charles Bini in a packed, somber courtroom in the capital Abidjan where 18 defendants have been on trial since November. Since the Grand-Bassam killings, jihadi attacks in the region have spiked.