Agence France-Presse
Bamako, Nov 21: Investigators in Mali were today hunting at least three people suspected of links to the jihadist siege at a luxury hotel in the capital that left at least 19 people dead. The government has declared a state of emergency after the bloody nine-hour hostage-taking at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako yesterday, exactly a week after the Paris massacre. The Al-Murabitoun group, an al-Qaeda affiliate led by notorious one-eyed Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, nicknamed the “Uncatchable” or “Mr Marlboro”, claimed the attack.
Gunmen went on the rampage through the hotel from the early morning, shooting in the corridors and taking 170 guests and staff hostage, many of them foreigners. The assault, which ended when Malian and international troops stormed the hotel, left 19 people dead as well as two attackers, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said. The victims included several Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American and a Senegalese. A Malian military source had said earlier there were at least 27 dead, while at least “three terrorists had been killed or blown themselves up.”
Mali’s government declared a 10-day nationwide state of emergency after a jihadist attack on a hotel in the capital Bamako that left least 27 people dead. Following a crisis cabinet session presided over by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita the government “declared a state of emergency across the nation” starting yesterday for 10 days, a statement read on national radio said.
