A second group claims responsibility for the Mali hotel siege

Shattered glass covers the floor inside the Radisson hotel in Mali that was attacked by gunmen Friday, leaving at least 19 dead.

Mali began a three-day mourning period with flags flying at half-staff on Monday for victims of the assault on a luxury hotel full of foreigners, a day after a dueling claim of responsibility emerged. She said doing anything more conspicuous to heighten security could raise public fears, when there haven’t been recent domestic attacks to warrant that.

The group said Sunday there were only two attackers and suggested they were Malian.

The assault occurred on the eve of peace negotiations between Keita’s government and a coalition of northern Mali separatists who have been fighting over control of large sections of the country for two years.

Members claiming to be part of al-Mourabitoun quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it carried it out “in coordination with Imarat al-Sahra group and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb [AQIM]”.

The dead include six Malians, six Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, one American, one Senegalese and two terrorists.

Senegal’s President Macky Sall, chairman of West Africa’s ECOWAS, said on Sunday that the regional body will discuss possible measures to restrict women wearing burqas in order to enhance regional security.

The deadly terror attack took place at the Radisson Blue hotel, frequented by Western diplomats, United Nations staff and journalists.

“They are suspects. People suspected of having links with the two terrorists (who attacked the hotel)”, said a source close to the security ministry.

Guinean singer Sekouba Bambino Diabate, who was among the survivors, told the media the gunmen spoke English among themselves.

The Macina Liberation Front (FLM) claims the attack that targeted the Radisson hotel in Bamako on Friday.

But Cisse said Malian authorities had not confirmed the men’s identities.

The militants were largely ousted by a French-led military operation launched the following year, but large swaths of Mali remain lawless.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Belmokhtar one of the world’s most wanted men was indeed “likely” the brains behind the assault. France now has about 1,000 troops stationed in Mali, a former colony, as part of a counterterrorism effort.