DIRCO Spokesperson Clayson Monyela says so far they have not been made aware of any South African who has been affected by the attack.
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He said group leader Iyad has been involved in every rebellion in Mali since the 1980s.
The attack may also be a way for al-Qaida and its allies to assert itself in the face of the highly publicized string of attacks carried out by its chief rival in jihad, ISIS.
As many as 170 guests and staff were taken hostage before special forces stormed the luxury hotel to free them.
Mali began three days of national mourning Monday for victims of an attack at a hotel that left 19 people dead in the capital city Bamako.
Among the dead in the Radisson attack were a 41-year-old American development worker, six Russian plane crew from a cargo company and three senior executives from the powerful state-owned China Railway Construction Corp, officials said. Mali will not shut down because of this attack.
Senegal’s President Macky Sall visited Bamako Sunday to show national solidarity and the support of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS which he chairs.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its affiliate, al-Murabitoun, have both said they were responsible for the attack. Preliminary investigations suggested France was the primary target of the attack. Their noms de guerre do not indicate they were not from Mali, al-Akhbar claimed.
On Sunday, the Massina Liberation Front, which has been blamed for previous attacks in southern Mali, became the third group to claim responsibility for the siege.
“Everything points to two foreigners”, the source said.
Guinean singer Sekouba Bambino Diabate who was among the survivors told AFP the gunmen spoke English among themselves.
However, a witness had said there was at least one more attacker.
“He is circulating”, he said of the Algerian militant believed to be in Libya.
Security remained tight around the Radisson and other hotels in Bamako and was also boosted discreetly at public buildings and banks.
“People are not being vigilant”.
Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda seized the desert north of Mali in 2012 following a separatist uprising but were scattered by a French military operation the following year.
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The recent terrorist related events in Paris, Egypt and Mali remind us of the importance of security not only in our daily lives but the air cargo industry as well.
