Mali in state of emergency after attack

Keita said in a statement that Mali will certainly not close down due to this strike, as Paris and NYC were not shut down after they faced terrorism. The Radisson Blu hotel attacked by two gunmen on Friday was preparing to host a meeting on implementing the latest accords.

A Malian police officer walks in front of the Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali, November 20, 2015.

After a standoff, where Malian commandos staged a rescue, Reuters announced that 19 people were killed in the attack, though some reports are claiming at least 27 lost their lives.

“When you see a foreigner in your area and you don’t know his destination, you need to ask him and if he doesn’t give good information call the authorities”, Conde said.

On Friday morning, heavily armed assailants shouting “God is great!” in Arabic burst into the complex and opened fire on guards before seizing dozens of hostages at the hotel popular with foreigners, sparking a more than seven-hour siege by Malian troops backed by U.S. and French special forces.

Malian and global troops stormed the Radisson Blu hotel to free guests and staff being held hostage.

Among the victims were six Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American, an Israeli, a Senegalese and a member of the Malian special forces.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has said both gunmen involved in the attack were killed, although an eye witness had previously said there was at least one additional attacker. The attack came as fears mount over jihadist threats a week after 130 people died in the Paris attacks claimed by the Islamic State group, which also said it had downed a Russian passenger jet in Egypt on Oct 31. Jean-Yves Le Drian- France’s defense minister- affirms that Al-Mourabitoun was “likely behind” the attack, but it can not be “completely certain of it”, according to a French television.

The attack appears to have had an immediate effect in the country’s tourism industry with one major hotel saying that it had received numerous cancellations since the events of Friday, and that restaurant and business centre reservations were down.

United States national Anita Ashok Datar, 41, was in Mali working on projects involving family planning and HIV.

Northern Mali was occupied by Islamist fighters, some with links to Al-Qaeda, for most of 2012. They were driven out by a French-led military operation, but violence has continued in Bamako and central Mali on the southern reaches of the Sahara.