Mali | Authorities tighten security after Islamist-militant attack on hotel

Mali troopers assist a hostage, center, to leave the scene, from the Radisson Blu hotel to safety after gunmen attacked the hotel in Bamako on Friday

Mali tightened security in the capital as investigators searched for al-Qaeda-linked militants suspected of carrying out an attack on a luxury hotel that killed 22 people, many of them foreigners.
Police and soldiers stood guard outside hotels, diplomatic missions and other key buildings in the capital, Bamako, Fode Sissoko, head of security for strategic locations at the Internal Security Ministry, said in a phone interview Saturday. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita declared a 10-day state of emergency and three days of national mourning after an extraordinary cabinet meeting late Friday.
The raid came a week after Islamic State militants killed 130 people in a series of shootings and explosions in Paris, the worst atrocity in Europe in almost a decade. Mali is a former French colony.
As many as 170 people were in the Radisson hotel when gunmen burst into the lobby Friday morning spraying gunfire. Hours later, troops stormed the hotel and moved room to room evacuating guests. French and U.S. security forces aided the operation.
The attack was carried out by two men armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, Sissoko said. Among those killed were 18 civilians, a policeman and the attackers, he said.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said six of its citizens died in the raid, while China’s government said three Chinese were killed. An American citizen was also among the dead, the U.S. State Department said.
U.S. President Barack Obama, in a speech in Kuala Lumpur, extended his “deepest condolences” to the families of those killed in Mali.
“We’re still working to account for Americans’’ who were at the hotel, Obama said.
The United Nations Security Council condemned the attack, saying the world must use all means to combat the threats that terrorist acts pose to global stability. The council earlier unanimously endorsed a resolution urging nations to fight Islamic State.
Al-Qaeda in Maghreb and the militant Mourabitoune group claimed joint responsibility for Friday’s attack. The Mali authorities are hunting for at least three people suspected of having links to the raid, Agence France-Presse reported.
“It’s too early to say if there were accomplices and how many there were,” Sissoko said. “But it seems like an operation that could not have been done without help.”
Mourabitoune and its leader, the one-eyed former Algerian soldier Mokhtar Belmokhtar, are best known for an attack on an Algerian gas plant in 2013 that killed more than a dozen hostages. Belmokhtar’s death has been reported more than once, though never confirmed. He’s probably behind the Mali attack, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday. Francois Rihouay and Colin Baker, Bloomberg

chinese business executives killed in mali raid

Three senior executives of a powerful state-owned Chinese company were killed in the Friday attack on a Radisson hotel in the Mali capital of Bamako, officials said Saturday. China Railway Construction Corp. identified the victims as Zhou Tianxiang, general manager for the corporation’s international group; Wang Xuanshang, a deputy general manager of the international group; and Chang Xuehui, general manager of the group’s West Africa division. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also confirmed Saturday that three Chinese nationals were among the dead, and that four other Chinese citizens had been rescued. Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned the killings of the Chinese citizens, and pledged that Beijing will strengthen cooperation with the international community in fighting terrorism. The Chinese Embassy in Mali said all seven Chinese were traveling to Mali on business. China has been sending engineers and construction workers to Africa to help build infrastructure and public facilities such as hospitals and stadiums, as part of Beijing’s outreach to forge closer ties with African nations.