The assault, which ended when Malian and global forces stormed the hotel, left 19 people dead, mostly foreigners.
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Malians awoke to a state of emergency after Friday’s attack in Barmako that was claimed by an extremist faction formed by notorious Algerian militant Moktar Belmoktar.
According to AFP, at least 27 people have been killed in the attack, which occurred on Friday when armed gunmen entered the up-scale Radisson Blu hotel taking over 100 people hostage.
The victims included several Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American and a Senegalese.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita vowed in a televised speech that “terror will not win” and described the attackers as having “decided to break with humanity”.
The lone American killed in Friday’s terrorist attack in Mali was a native of western MA.
A Turkish official said five of seven Turkish Airlines staff had also managed to flee.
Commandos stormed the hotel and rescued 170 people, but 19 hostages were killed along with two militants.
The president assured that the siege was over and announced a 10-day state of emergency, which began Friday night.
Malian television broadcast chaotic scenes from inside the hotel as police and other security personnel ushered bewildered and terrified guests along corridors and across the main lobby.
Six Russians were killed in the hotel attack, Russia’s foreign ministry said Saturday.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, citing its diplomats in Mali, reported about 10 Chinese citizens took shelter in their rooms, and all were safe.
A jihadist group, known as the Mourabitounes, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it wanted its fighters freed from Malian prisons and for attacks in the North to stop.
France, the former colonial power in Mali, intervened in the country in January 2013, when al-Qaeda-linked militants threatened to march on Bamako after taking control of the north of the country. They were driven out by a French-led military operation, but violence has continued.
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US President Barack Obama says the “barbarity” shown by Islamic extremists was yet another reminder that the “scourge of terrorism” threatens many nations.
