Mali investigators said they are searching for several people who aided at least two gunmen, one a teenager and the other about 22 years old, who took several hostages during the attack.
Advertisement
Mali is likely to feature as a principal area of operations coordinated by AQIM as it launches attacks against nationals perceived to be “enemies of Islam”.
Security remained high at the major hotels.
After completion of the transportation, 12 employees of the Airline were staying at the Radisson Blu Hotel to rest before their next flight.
The assault began around 0700 GMT when gunmen arrived at the hotel and starting shooting their way inside taking guests and staff hostage.
The assault on a luxury hotel in Mali’s capital that left 21 people dead was a clear attempt to derail a fragile peace process meant to stabilize the country’s volatile north, a representative of northern separatist groups said Sunday. Preliminary investigations suggested France was the primary target of the attack.
On 20 November at around 7 a.m. local time the hotel was attacked by armed militants of the al-Murabitoun terrorist group.
However, several days after the attack, little has been revealed about the attackers.
“They’re acting as if Macina was a country or territory that needed to be liberated”, he said.
The United States and France consider Ansar Dine a terrorist movement.
Mourabitoun named the pair through the Mauritanian state news agency al-Akhbar which reported it had received a second audio recording from the Jihadi group in the aftermath of the attacks. “Paris and NY were not shut down, and Mali won’t be”, Keita said after visiting the terror-stricken hotel, according to the Guardian.
He said group leader Iyad has been involved in every rebellion in Mali since the 1980s.
Advertisement
Friday’s drama follows another hotel siege in August in the central Mali town of Sevare in which five United Nations workers and four soldiers were killed.
