Brazen attack: 27 dead after militants seize hotel in Mali

Al Qaeda affiliate in former French colony claims responsibility

BAMAKO:

At least 27 people were killed on Friday after Malian commandos stormed a hotel seized by militants to rescue 170 people, many of them foreigners, trapped in the building.

The militant group Al Mourabitoun, allied to al Qaeda and based in the desert north of the former French colony, claimed responsibility for the attack. The former French colony has been battling rebels for years.

More than seven hours after the initial assault, a security source declared the siege over, along with the deaths of two militants. But the security ministry said gunmen continued to hold out against special forces on the top floors of the seven-storey building.

“The attackers no longer have hostages. They are dug in in the upper floors. They are alone with the Malian special forces who are trying to dislodge them,” spokesman Amadou Sangho said.

A UN official said UN peacekeepers searching the hotel had made a preliminary count of 27 bodies. State television showed troops brandishing AK47s in the lobby of the Radisson Blu, one of the capital Bamako’s smartest hotels and beloved of foreigners.

A body lay under a brown blanket at the bottom of a flight of stairs. 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 who worked for a Belgian regional parliament was among the dead, the assembly said.

Minister of Internal Security Colonel Salif Traoré said the gunmen had burst through a security barrier at 7 am, spraying the area with gunfire and shouting “Allahu Akbar”.

The attacks are a slap in the face for France, which has stationed 3,500 troops in northern Mali to try to restore stability after a 2012 Tuareg rebellion which was later hijacked by al Qaeda-linked militants.

Bursts of gunfire

Bursts of gunfire were heard as the assailants went through the hotel room by room and floor by floor, one senior security source and a witness told Reuters. Some people were freed by the attackers after showing they could recite verses from the Quran, while others managed to escape or were brought out by security forces.

Twelve Air France flight crew were in the hotel but all were brought out safely, the French national carrier said. A Turkish official said five of seven Turkish Airlines staff had also managed to flee. The Chinese state news agency Xinhua said three of 10 Chinese tourists caught inside had been rescued.

One security source said as many as 10 gunmen had stormed the building, although the company that runs the hotel, Rezidor Group, said it understood that there were only two attackers. Al Mourabitoun has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks, including an assault on a hotel in the town of Sevare, 600 km (northeast of Bamako, in August in which 17 people including five UN staff were killed.


Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2015.