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Mali on state of emergency as three Bamako hotel attackers sought

A Malian intelligence agent said a total of 13 foreigners were killed, including six Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American and a Senegalese.

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At least three suspects are thought to be on the run.

Visiting the site of the terror attack on Saturday, President Keita pledged to also move to combat terrorism.

“Nowhere in the world are we safe”.

Malians awoke to a state of emergency after Friday’s assault in downtown Bamako that was claimed by an extremist group formed by notorious Algerian militant Moktar Belmoktar.

It also comes three weeks after the downing of a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai peninsular that killed 224 people, which Russian officials say was caused by a bomb.

President Obama said on Saturday that the attack “only stiffens our resolve to meet this challenge”.

Northern Mali was occupied by Islamist fighters, a few with links to al Qaeda, for most of 2012.

They demanded to know which floor the Air France staff were on.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned Friday’s “horrific terrorist attack”, suggesting the violence was aimed at destroying peace efforts in the country.

The bodies of six employees of the Russian airline Volga-Dnepr killed in the Malian capital Bamako on Friday will be transported to the Ulyanovsk region in a week, Ulyanovsk region Governor Sergei Morozov said.

Malian television broadcast chaotic scenes from inside the building as police and other security personnel ushered bewildered guests along corridors to safety. News outlets reported that two attackers were killed when special forces stormed the hotel to rescue trapped patrons. The particular attack was claimed by the Islamic State, on who global political leaders are rallying a global war to combat their deadly attacks.

However, a witness had said there was at least one more attacker.

A few hostages escaped under their own steam while others were freed after showing they could recite verses from the Koran, one security source said.

Sky’s Special Correspondent Alex Crawford said: “Room after room showed the desperate measures taken by those trapped in their hotel as they fought to stay alive, penned into a few of these rooms for about seven hours”.

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France now maintains a force of about 1,000 troops in the country. Since then, Mali has seen periodic attacks such as the one in March this year, where armed assailants shot five people at a popular Bamako restaurant.

Hospital staff outside the morgue of the Gabriel Toure hospital in Bamako Mali on Sunday