President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has also announced three days of mourning. The statement from al-Mourabitounes (the Sentinels) group was carried by al-Jazeera and said the assault was carried out with al-Qaida’s “Sahara emirate”.
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At least three hostages were killed Friday as jihadists besieged a luxury hotel in the capital Bamako, the country’s security ministry said, adding that security forces were now storming the establishment…
China Railway Construction Corp., a state-owned company, said early Saturday that three of its senior executives had been killed in the attack.
“As of the morning of November 21, we can confirm that Russian citizens are among the dead”, Ms Zakharova told RIA Novosti news agency, citing information from the Russian embassy.
The exact number of attackers remains unknown, with the figures ranging between two and thirteen.
The gunmen entered the hotel, which houses 190 rooms and sheltered 140 people of different nationalities, on a vehicle with diplomatic plate, said Traore.
At least three suspects are thought to be on the run. He said the assailants were “determined to die” regardless of the security measures in place.
Islamist fighters, a few with links to Al-Qaeda, occupied Northern Mali for most of 2012 before they were ousted by an ongoing French-led military operation launched in January 2013.
The United Nations force in Mali took over responsibility for security in the country from French and African troops in July 2013, after the main towns in the north had been recaptured from the Islamist militants, said BBC.
Another four were Malian soldiers, according to two military officers interviewed on Saturday.
The assault began around 0700 GMT on Friday, when gunmen pulled up at the hotel and starting shooting their way inside, taking guests and staff hostage.
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Putin said the inhumane atrocity committed in the Malian capital city again confirmed that “terrorism knows no borders and poses a real threat to the whole world”.
