27 dead as Mali hotel siege ends
Print Edition
AT least 27 people were reported dead yesterday after Malian commandos stormed a luxury hotel in the capital Bamako with at least 170 people inside, many of them foreigners, that had been seized by Islamist gunmen.
The former French colony has been battling Islamist rebels for several years, and the jihadist group Al Mourabitoun, allied to al Qaeda and based in the deserts of northern Mali, claimed responsibility for the attack in a tweet. By late afternoon, ministerial adviser Amadou Sangho told the French television station BFMTV that no more hostages were being held.
But a UN official said UN peacekeepers on the scene had seen 27 bodies in a preliminary
count, and that a search of hotel was continuing. It was not clear whether any of the gunmen, who were said to have dug in on the seventh floor of the hotel as special forces advanced on them, were still active.
State television showed footage of troops in camouflage fatigues wielding AK47s in the lobby of the Radisson Blu, one of Bamako’s smartest hotels and beloved of foreigners. In the background, a body lay under a brown blanket at the bottom of a flight of stairs.
The peacekeepers saw 12 dead bodies in the basement of the hotel and another 15 on the second floor, the UN official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. He added that the UN troops were still helping Malian authorities search the hotel.
A man working for a Belgian regional parliament was among the dead, the assembly
said.
Citing Chinese diplomats in Mali, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that about 10 Chinese citizens were sheltering inside their hotel rooms.
The embassy was in phone contact with them and all were reported safe, according to the report. All are employees of Chinese companies working in Mali.
An African Jihadist group affiliated with al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack
in Bamako. Al-Mourabitoun, a group based in northern Mali and made up mostly of Tuaregs and Arabs, posted a message on Twitter saying it was behind the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel, where hostages are still being held.
Malian special forces were freeing hostages “floor by floor,” Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traore said.
Minister of Internal Security Colonel Salif Traoré said the gunmen had burst through a security barrier at 7am, spraying the area with gunfire and shouting “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is great” in Arabic.
Occasional bursts of gunfire were heard as the assailants went through the seven-storey building, room-by-room and floor-by-floor, one senior security source and a witness said. Some people were freed by the attackers after showing they could recite verses from the Koran, while others were brought out by security forces or managed to escape under their own steam.
Paris was sending around 40 officers from an elite French unit of paramilitary police specialized in hostage situations.
France has more than 1,000 troops in its former colony.
Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was in Chad for a summit of regional leaders, cut short his trip to fly home upon hearing news of the attack.
A paramedic said three security guards had been wounded, one of them critically. AFP’s correspondent saw a police officer, who had been shot, being evacuated by security forces.
The Rezidor Hhotel Group, the US-based parent company of Radisson Blu, said a total of 170 people were caught up in the attack — 140 guests and 30 employees.
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