Investigators in Mali yesterday hunting at least three people suspected of links to a 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 on Friday, exactly one week after the Paris terror attacks.
The al-Murabitoun group, an al-Qaeda affiliate led by notorious Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, nicknamed the “Uncatchable” or “Mr Marlboro,” claimed the attack.
Photo: Reuters
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, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said.
Malian authorities are now “actively pursuing” at least three people over the attack in the former French colony, one security source told reporters.
The victims included three Chinese, several Russians, two Belgians, an American and a Senegalese.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday condemned the “cruel and savage” attack that killed three Chinese executives of a state-run railway firm.
Xi called on “relevant departments” to strengthen security work “outside of China’s borders,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited Xi as saying in a statement on its Web site.
“China will strengthen cooperation with the international community, resolutely crack down on violent terrorist operations that devastate innocent lives and safeguard world peace and security,” Xi said.
The three Chinese people killed were executives of China’s state-owned China Railway Construction Corp (中國鐵建), the company said in a statement on its Web site.
The company’s international division general manager Zhou Tianxiang (周天想) and deputy general manager Wang Xuanshang (王選尚) and West Africa division general manager Chang Xuehui (常學輝) were killed, the statement said.
The assault began at about 7am on Friday, when gunmen pulled up at the hotel and starting shooting their way inside, taking guests and staff hostage. Malian television broadcast chaotic scenes from inside the building as police and other security personnel ushered bewildered guests along corridors to safety.
Special forces — including Malian, French and two US soldiers who were also in the area — staged a dramatic floor-by-floor rescue, ending the siege after about nine hours.
In an audio recording broadcast by al-Jazeera television, Belmokhtar’s group claimed responsibility, saying it had worked with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
The palatial 190-room Radisson, regarded as one of west Africa’s best hotels, is a favorite with entrepreneurs, tourists and government officials from around the world.
Guinean singer Sekouba Bambino Diabate, who was among the survivors, told reporters the gunmen spoke English among themselves.
“They were firing inside the hotel, in the corridors,” Diabate said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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