capital Abidjan. It was one of three hotels targeted, according to the country's Interior Ministry.
The raiders were "heavily armed and wearing balaclavas" and they "fired at guests", a witness told AFP news
agency, adding that the large hotel had been "full of expats in the current heatwave".
One of the dead was French, it has been confirmed, while a spokesman for the UK Foreign Office said they were "urgently" trying to establish whether any Britons had
been among the victims.
Witness Luc Gnago told Sky News he had seen six bodies on the beach - one of which he thought was "an assailant" - and one in the hotel, which he described as "a white
man".
Residents told of hearing the gunfire and venturing from their houses, before realising what was happening and
returning to hide.
A dozen ambulances headed to the scene, joined by military vehicles with heavy machine guns and armed traditional hunters known as Dozo.
Grand-Bassam on the Ivory Coast
A witness told French broadcaster BFMTV he saw "the body of a European woman" and that "two or three" masked attackers were involved.
The country's Interior Minister Hamed
Bakayoko said six terrorists had been "neutralised" and a jihad monitoring
group later reported al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb had claimed responsibility for the attack.
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