AP/IANS
BAMAKO, NOVEMBER 21
Suspected militant gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako, taking 170 people hostage that left at least 27 people dead, media reports said on Saturday.
Heavily armed gunmen on Friday fired indiscriminately at guests at the Radisson Blu Hotel hosting diplomats and others, which is about 15 minutes away from the Bamako Senou International Airport, CNN reported.
They had locked in 140 guests and 30 employees out of which 20 were Indians who were later freed as security forces launched a counter-assault.
Security sources said two attackers had been killed, but it remained unknown if the attackers were among the 27.
Al Mourabitoun, an Islamist militant group, claimed it was jointly responsible for the attack.
The group announced it carried out the attack with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
The hotel was hosting a large delegation for the Mali peace process that began on Thursday which according to Mongi Hamdi, head of MINUSMA, might have been a motive for the attck.
“I think this attack has been perpetrated by negative forces, terrorists, who do not want to see peace in Mali,” Hamdi said.
Meanwhile, the Malian government has declared a 10-day nationwide state of emergency nad it has also called for three days of mourning, Xinhua news agency reported.
The siege ended when Malian troops along with forces from MINUSMA, the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali, US and French troops secured the palatial hotel.
Some hostages succeeded in escaping by their own means while the majority of them were rescued by the special forces.
An extremist group led by former al-Qaeda commander Moktar Belmoktar claimed responsibility for the attack in the former French colony, and many in France saw it as a new assault on their country’s interests a week after the Paris attacks.
Following a crisis cabinet session presided over by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, the government has declared a 10-day nationwide state of emergency. It has also called for three days of mourning for the victims of the attack.
While French President Francois Hollande did not link the violence at the Radisson Blu hotel with last week’s bloodshed in Paris, he declared that France would stand by the West African country.
“Once again, terrorists want to make their barbaric presence felt everywhere, where they can kill, where they can massacre. So we should once again show our solidarity with our ally, Mali,” he said.
President Barack Obama called the attack a reminder of the “scourge of terrorism” and said it “stiffens our resolve to meet this challenge.”
Gunfire continued throughout the day at the hotel, which is popular with airline crews and other foreigners doing business in the capital of Bamako, but the shooting had stopped after dark.
Officials would not confirm that the entire complex had been secured by nightfall, although the only activity was firefighters carrying bodies to waiting ambulances.
Malian state television said late Friday night that the government had announced a 10-day state of emergency beginning at midnight as well as a three-day period of national mourning beginning Monday.
Though Traore had earlier said as many as 10 attackers were involved, he said Friday night that there may have been only two gunmen, both of whom were killed. A police officer at the hotel displayed photos of the two dead gunmen, their bodies riddled with bullets.
The siege began when assailants shouting “God is great!” in Arabic burst into the complex and opened fire on the hotel guards, Traore said earlier on Friday. An employee who identified himself as Tamba Diarra said by phone amid the attack that the militants used grenades.
About 170 guests and employees were initially taken hostage, but some apparently escaped or hid in the sprawling, cream-and-pink hotel that has 190 rooms and a spa, outdoor pool and ballroom. They included visitors from France, Belgium, Germany, China, India, Canada, Ivory Coast and Turkey.
“It was more like a real terrorist attack,” said UN Mission spokesman Olivier Salgado. “The intention was clearly to kill, not to necessarily have people being hostage.”
Traore said 126 people had been escorted to safety, and that at least one guest reported the attackers instructed him to recite verses from the Quran as proof of his Muslim faith before he was allowed to leave.
As people ran for their lives along a dirt road, troops in full combat gear pointed the way to safety, sometimes escorting them with a protective arm around the shoulder. Local TV showed heavily armed troops in what appeared to be a lobby.
Monique Kouame Affoue Ekonde of Ivory Coast said she and six other people, including a Turkish woman, were escorted out by security forces as the gunmen rushed toward the fifth or sixth floor. Ekonde said she had been “in a state of shock.”
US special forces assisted, said Col. Mark Cheadle of the US Army’s Africa Command. At least six Americans were evacuated from the hotel, Cheadle said. US officials were trying to verify the location of all American citizens in Mali.
National Security Council spokesman Ned Price praised the bravery of the Malian, French, UN and US security personnel who responded, adding that Washington was prepared to assist Mali’s government as it investigates “this tragic terrorist attack.”
A unit of French soldiers was sent to Bamako in support of Malian security forces, the French Defense Ministry said. About 40 special police forces also played a supporting role, France’s national gendarme service said. The UN mission sent security reinforcements and medical aid to the scene, said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq. A few UN staff were in the hotel but they got out safely, he added.
Reflecting the chaos surrounding the siege, various death tolls were reported during the day. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said 19 people died — 18 in the hotel and one Malian soldier killed in the fighting.
A UN official had earlier said initial reports put the number of dead at 27, but that different casualty figures have been reported and the organization is working with authorities to get an exact total. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the operation was still ongoing.
