Regional news agencies pointed fingers at two groups.
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But speaking outside the luxury Radisson Blu hotel a day after it was attacked the president said that the country remained open for business. They also demanded France cease its operations in the north of Mali. But he said France was not sure. “Small team of USA troops assisting with relocating rescued hostages”.
Why was the hotel targeted?
Malian special forces went “floor by floor” to free hostages, Traore said.
Mali has been torn apart by unrest since the north fell under the control of militant groups linked to al-Qaeda in 2012.
The Netherlands also has troops working with the United Nations mission. A military intervention led by French forces the following year drove extremists from cities and towns, weakening their stronghold but causing them to scatter.
“Unfortunately, this (hotel) is a likely target” because it is popular with worldwide guests, Pham said.
It has emerged that Russian, Chinese and American citizens were among those killed in a shooting rampage.
The ministry on Saturday confirmed that all the six people are employees of the Volga-Dnepr Airlines, while another six Russians were rescued by Mali security services. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he was not aware of any French nationals killed in the attacks.
He was in Mali as a consultant to the government on education, Israeli officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“He tried to help Third World countries, to better their education systems and give hope to young people”, Tzvi Raviv told Ynet.
The victims also include Geoffrey Dieudonne, an administrative counselor for Belgium’s Parliament. “We weren’t concentrating and we didn’t expect it”, he said. “We salute [Dieudonne’s] courage, strength of conviction [and] determination”.
Belmokhtar’s “Signatories in Blood” faction allegedly masterminded the January 2013 siege of an Algerian gas plant in which around 40 hostages, mainly Westerners, were killed. A police officer at the hotel displayed photos of the two dead gunmen, their bodies riddled with bullets.
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Security sources are pointing the finger at the Islamist group Boko Haram, which has carried out numerous attacks in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria this year.
