At least 20 hostages dead in siege of hotel in

Mali, official says

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Gunmen stormed into the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, early in the morning on
Nov. 20. Authorities say at least 20 died in the attack. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington
Post)

By Kodji Siby, Kevin Sief and Brian Murphy-November 20

BAMAKO, Mali Security forces swept through a luxury hotel in Malis capital on
Friday, freeing hostages and surrounding militants who killed at least 20 people in the latest bloodshed
apparently linked to the countrys battles against Islamist insurgents.
Malis security minister, Col. Salif Traore, said all hostages were safe after gunmen
stormed the Radisson Blu hotel, sending some of the 170 staff and guests fleeing in
panic and others cowering in hiding places during the seven-hour standoff.
One witness said the attackers freed some captives who were able to recite verses
from the Koran. An al-Qaeda-linked group asserted responsibility.
At least 20 people were killed, said Traore. The Reuters news agency, citing U.N.
officials, said at least 27 bodies were seen.
The State Department said a U.S. citizen was among the dead. It did not immediately
identify the person. A department spokesman had reported earlier that no Americans
were killed or injured in the attack.

Stphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said the
attack killed an unknown number of civilians and injured many more. Three U.N. staff
members in the hotel during the attack were safely evacuated, he said. The world
body has envoys in Bamako as part of Mali peace efforts.
[Its not just the Islamic State. Other terror groups surge in West Africa.]
Meanwhile, security forces tried to pin down the attackers in the heart of Bamako,
which served as a logistical hub for French forces aiding in the fight against Islamist
militants in Mali a vast Western-allied nation that stretches from tropical West Africa
to desert regions bordering Algeria.
Officials said four gunmen were holed up in a hotel room but that there were no
hostages with them. A U.N. spokesman said later two attackers were dead.

A group affiliated with al-Qaeda, al-Mourabitoun, said its followers were behind the
attack similar to a hotel assault in August that was also claimed by the same
militants. Mali has faced repeated attacks from insurgents linked to al-Qaeda and
other factions, but the Islamic State does not have major footholds in the region.
About a dozen Americans were rescued from the Radisson hotel, including several
employees of the U.S. Embassy in Bamako, said State Department spokesman John
Kirby. The ambassador was not there, he said.
Kirby swatted down a rumor that a vehicle bearing U.S. diplomatic license plates was
involved in the attack. Kirby said that was false, although a vehicle with diplomatic
plates was on the hotel grounds at the time. It was driven by a U.S. government
employee, and the driver and passengers all escaped unharmed, Kirby said.
Guests, staf flee as gunmen storm luxury hotel in Mali

Gunmen took hostages and killed at least three at the Radisson Blu hotel in
Bamako.

The U.S. Embassy in the Malian capital lifted its recommendation that Americans
shelter in place, but it advised them to stay off the streets of Bamako as much as
possible and be aware of their surroundings.
We can confirm that the attack has ended, and we continue to coordinate with U.S.
officials on the ground to verify the location of all American citizens in Mali, National
Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in Washington shortly after 3:30 p.m.

Eastern time. He said the United States condemns the heinous attack and will
remain a steadfast partner to Mali and other countries in the region as they battle
terrorism.
[How U.S. troops aided at the scene of the hostage standoff]
One Senegalese guest, Aissatou Gueye, was in her room when the attackers entered.
Like many other guests, she was there to attend a large mining conference.
"They were asking people to recite the Koran, and if they do, nothing will happen to
them," she told a reporter outside the hotel. Gueye saw one person shot dead before
she ran to safety.
Others who escaped included crews from Turkish Airlines and Air France, the
companies said.
A member of a U.S. Special Operations unit helped to escort guests evacuated from
the hotel, the Pentagon said. About 22 U.S. Defense Department personnel were in
Bamako when the hotel was attacked.
U.N. peacekeepers helped secure the perimeter, provide medical aid and help in
forensics, said the spokesman Dujarric.
Authorities drew no direct links to last weeks terrorist attacks in Paris. But Mali
home to the famous ancient city of Timbuktu has been at the center of a Frenchbacked effort to drive back Islamist rebels who once controlled large portions the
country.

[Photos: A look back at the conflict in Mali]

Security had been reinforced in Bamako specifically around locations popular with
foreigners, including the Radisson after the Paris attacks, Traore said.
He added that the attackers entered the hotel through a side entrance, "which makes
us believe that they were familiar with the hotel."
Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traore said gunmen stormed the hotel
shouting Allahu akbar God is great in Arabic and then fired on guards and
began taking hostages.
Radical Islamists with ties to al-Qaeda have been active in Mali for years, occupying
the northern part of the country for much of 2012. Even after they were forced out by a
French-led military operation, militants have mounted occasional attacks, including
earlier this year on a hotel in central Mali and a military base in the south.
The Islamic State, meanwhile, has sought to expand its presence across North Africa
and beyond through alliances with militant factions. But the Islamic State does not
have significant footholds in West Africa.
[U.S. troops aided Malis fight]

Foreigners are often targeted in Mali. Yet militants had never before seized a target as
prominent as the 190-room Radisson Blu, where foreign businessmen and diplomats
are known to stay and dine.
Earlier this month before the rampage in Paris the leader of Ansar Dine, one of
Malis main Islamist groups, released a statement encouraging attacks that would
push away the aggression of the French Crusader assailant in the former French
colony.
A contingent of French troops is stationed in Mali, and President Franois Hollande on
Thursday praised the campaign against the Islamist insurgents.
"France is leading this war with its armed forced, its soldiers, its courage. It must carry
out this war with its allies, its partners giving us all the means available, as we did in
Mali, as we are going to continue in Iraq, as we will continue in Syria," he said.
[Islamic State chief believed killed in Libya]
The U.N. mission in Mali said it was currently supporting Malian authorities and
providing a security reinforcement while also deploying medical facilities in the area.
Over the past three years, the U.N. mission in Mali has been the most dangerous in
the world, with at least 53 members killed.
One of the rescued hostages, popular Guinean singer Skouba Bambino Diabate,
told reporters that he hid under his bed and heard two assailants speaking in English
as they searched an adjacent room.
I stayed still, hidden under the bed, not making a noise, he said. I heard them say in
English, Did you load it? Lets go.
Extremist violence has hit Mali repeatedly.
In March, attackers reportedly shouting Allahu akbar fired on a popular bar in
Bamako. Three Malian civilians were killed, along with a Belgian security officer
working for the European Union and a French national.
Two months ago, more than a dozen people including five U.N. contractors were
killed in a 24-hour hostage siege at a hotel in Sevare in central Mali. Responsibility for
that attack was claimed by al-Mourabitoun, led by Algerian jihadist leader Mokhtar
Belmokhtar.
Belmokhtar, an infamous one-eyed militant, had also orchestrated the bloody seizure
of an Algerian gas facility in 2013, where at least 100 workers were held hostage and
dozens were killed. He was targeted in a U.S. airstrike in June in Libya, and Libyan
authorities said he was killed. But the Islamist group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
rejected that claim.
Sieff reported from Nairobi, Kenya, and Murphy reported from Washington. William
Branigin, Sarah Kaplan, Craig Whitlock and Carol Morello in Washington, and Liu Liu
in Beijing contributed to this report.

Posted by Thavam