OUAGADOUGOU: Municipal workers walk past the Aziz Istanbul restaurant yesterday, the scene of a terrorist attack late Aug 13. — AFP

KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah yesterday expressed his condolences over the death of two Kuwaiti citizens in a terrorist attack targeting a cafe in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou. Grand Mosque Imam Dr Waleed Al-Ali and Kuwaiti citizen Fahd Al-Husseini were there on a charity mission. The Amir expressed the strongest condemnation of Kuwait against this terrorist act, which killed more than 18 people and injured scores others.

HH the Amir also sent a cable of condolences to Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc Christian Kabore. In the cable, Sheikh Sabah expressed his sincere condolences over the victims killed in the attack, praying to Allah the Almighty to bless their souls with mercy, and wishing the injured speedy recovery. The Amir stressed Kuwait’s condemnation and denouncement of this “heinous crime” that targeted innocents, and runs counter to all religions and humanitarian values.

The Amir also affirmed that Kuwait supports all measures taken by Burkina Faso to face such terrorist acts aiming to undermine its stability and security. Sheikh Sabah renewed Kuwait’s firm stance that rejects terrorism in its forms and manifestations, and backs the international community to counter this phenomenon and dry up its funding.

HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah sent Burkina Faso’s President similar cables. Late on Monday, the foreign ministry said HH the Amir instructed sending a plane to Ouagadougou to bring back the two Kuwaiti victims. With shock and grief, the ministry received the news of the death of the two citizens as well as several other innocent people in the heinous terrorist attack, a senior diplomat said.

The two Kuwaiti nationals were on a charitable mission when they were martyred in the restaurant, he said. Upon receiving the news from its non-resident embassy to Burkina Faso, the ministry sent a diplomat to follow up the investigations into the incident and speed up the airlifting of the bodies of the two victims to Kuwait. While condemning this repugnant attack, Kuwait reaffirms its principled rejections of all forms of terrorism, the source stressed. He expressed sincere condolences to the families of the two philanthropists and prayed to God Almighty to lodge their souls in paradise. At the behest of the Amir, the two martyrs will be brought back to Kuwait soon, he affirmed. — KUNA