Malian, French and U.S. security forces ended the siege after the gunmen stormed the hotel and took about 170 people hostage.
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“We are devastated by the loss of our wonderful daughter, who was doing the work that she loves”, said Datar family spokesman Joe Gleason.
The Foreign Ministry has confirmed that no Ghanaian was involved in the recent terrorist attack in a hotel in Mali.
The victims included six Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American, an Israeli, a Senegalese and a member of the Malian Special Forces.
But a United Nations official said UN peacekeepers on the scene had seen 27 bodies in a preliminary count, and that a search of hotel was continuing.
The head of security at the Radisson Blu hotel, Seydou Dembele, told Reuters that breakfast at the hotel was disrupted on Friday when as many as 10 assailants burst into the building, shouted “Allahu Akbar”, and opened fire.
Mali will begin three days of mourning from today.
Al-Mourabitoun, an armed group that has had ties to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it carried it out “in coordination with Imarat al-Sahra group and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb [AQIM]”.
Keita said in a statement that Mali will certainly not close down due to this strike, as Paris and NYC were not shut down after they faced terrorism. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita stated 2 militants were killed in the commando operation.
Al-Mourabitoun, an African jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility in a message posted on Twitter. “Terror will not win”, Keita said in a televised address. “Anita was one of the kindest and most generous people we know”.
The Mali attacks may have been an attempt to take attention away from the Islamic State in the aftermath of the Paris attacks.
Mali has been torn apart by unrest since the north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.
“I was busy cooking when a waitress started screaming at the door, ‘They are attacking us, they are attacking us!'” Coulibaly said.
They were among 12 Russian nationals, all employees of private freight airline Volga-Dnepr, staying at the Radisson Blu.
The US will “remain a steadfast partner” with Mali against terrorist groups seeking to undermine the country’s “efforts to build a durable peace”.
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Back in June, Tuareg rebels, who have launched a number of uprisings since the 1960s, signed a peace deal with the Malian government aimed at ending years of unrest in the country.
