Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on Saturday declared a 10-day state of emergency in the country. During the period of mourning, flags will be flown at half-staff.
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Friday’s attack began at around 7 a.m., when two gunmen armed with assault rifles and explosives attacked just as guards who had worked the night shift were preparing to hand over to a new team.
“South Africa stands firmly with the rest of the worldwide community in its condemnation of attacks targeting innocent civilians and reiterates its stance that terrorism, in whatever form and from whichever quarter, can not be condoned”, Monyela said.
At a joint press conference early Sunday evening, Sall said a regional meeting to discuss security concerns would be convened in the coming days, though he provided no details.
Two of the troops were slightly injured, the statement said.
He walked to a door leading to the hotel lobby, and knew something was wrong.
He fled back to the gym and eventually left the hotel using a side door.
The hotel was hosting delegations attending peace talks.
“I was busy cooking when a waitress started screaming at the door, “They are attacking us, they are attacking us”, Mr Coulibaly said. Al-Mourabitoun and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) also had claimed responsibility. He said he fears more attacks will follow.
Belmokhtar was targeted in a US airstrike in Libya in June. A US defense official called AQIM the “leading suspect” in the assault.
Why was the hotel targeted? He said the victims were “innocent people who had everything to live for”.
Fighters linked to Al-Qaeda seized the desert in northern in 2012 following a separatist uprising, but were scattered by a French military operation the following year.
Authorities are now “actively pursuing” at least three people over the attack in the former French colony. It also came a week after ISIS targeted France with shootings and suicide bombings, killing 130 people.
Turkish Airlines confirmed that all six crew members were safe, while Air France, which has now stopped operating to the country, said all 12 of its staff were safe. 19 were killed in the hostage taking including 13 foreign nationals.
Israeli education consultant and executive Shmuel Benalal, who is reported to have been in Mali to work with the government.
United States national Anita Ashok Datar, 41, was in Mali working on projects involving family planning and HIV. Ms Datar, the mother of a seven-year-old boy, was a senior manager at Palladium Group, an global development organisation.
Two Belgians, including Geoffrey Dieudonne, an official at the parliament in Belgium’s Wallonia region. “We salute [Dieudonne’s] courage, strength of conviction [and] determination”.
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A Human Rights Watch report said the MLF militants had carried out serious abuses in parts of central Mali since January and killed at least five people they accused of being aligned to the government.
