“Our contractors survived because at no time was their presence discovered by the terrorists in the hotel”, said UN mission in Mali spokeswoman Radhia Achouri, adding that the four would soon be transferred to Bamako.
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Security forces in the West African country stormed the Byblos Hotel in the town of Sevare early on August 8 – freeing other UN contractors and hostages who were trapped inside during a siege that lasted almost 24 hours.
It said the group has burned government buildings, downed a communication tower and threatened residents with death if they cooperate with French forces, the government or the United Nations peacekeeping mission.
An earlier government statement said two militants were killed in the fire fight and seven suspects were detained.
The BBC’s Alex Duval Smith in Mali said the town, which is about 600km north-east of the capital, Bamako, was a trading hub that serves the historic riverside city of Mopti.
The military operation at the Hotel Byblos in Sevare, popular with United Nations staff, “has ended and the hotel has been cleared”, a source said.
The special forces of Malian along with the French soldiers help successfully seized the hotel at Mali today.
A Malian military source had earlier said at least eight people had been killed with “three bodies lying in front of the hotel next to a burned-out minibus”.
A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Mali said one of those being held was a Russian citizen. A Russian diplomat said a Russian was among the hostages.
A 38-year-old South African who died in the attack worked for an aviation company that was assisting the UN contingent in Mali, Nelson Kgwete, spokesman for South Africa’s foreign ministry, said on Twitter. Several Islamist groups are known to operate in the country, principally in northern Mali.
It said the initial target of the attack was a Malian military site.
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A Ukrainian hostage managed to escape from the hotel and said up to five gunmen had led the hostage-taking in Sevare, which lies 620 kilometres south of the capital Bamako. Coming as far south as it did, the attack highlighted the threat still posed by al-Qaeda-linked insurgents who took control of northern Mali in 2012. The next day extremists briefly occupied a village near Ivory Coast.
