Two suspects, who were arrested for the attack on a hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako, have been identified, a statement from the country’s intelligence agency said on Friday.
Advertisement
Security Minister Salif Traore said on Thursday that there were only two attackers armed with AK-47 assault rifles. The two suspects were brought in for interrogation after credible information was found in one of the assailants’ mobile phone, a source close to the investigation said.
November 25, 2015: People carry the remains of an individual in that was slain by gunmen throughout the current assaults on the Radisson Blu hotel, throughout a funeral in Bamako, Mali.
Officials had previously said that 19 people were killed in addition to the gunmen, but on Friday Amadou Sangho, spokesman for the interior ministry, said there were 20 victims from seven countries. As per the phone records, it has been found that one of the individuals has been in regular contact with one of the gunmen who initiated the attack since August this year.
The siege ended hours later when Malian commandos stormed the hotel and freed 170 hostages after killing two attackers.
Two U.N. peacekeepers and a civilian contractor were killed in a rocket attack Saturday on a U.N. base in northeast Mali, a week after a deadly siege at a Bamako hotel claimed by extremists.
As of writing, three radical Islamic groups, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI), its splinter group al Mourabitoun as well as the Massina Liberation Front (MLF), have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Germany has said it is willing to send up to 650 soldiers to bolster the United Nations force which has yet to reach its full strength of 12,680 men.
Advertisement
Christophe Monbelli-Valloir, deputy police commissioner for MINUSMA, said on Thursday a team from the FBI had arrived to help the Malian-led investigation.
