Gunmen take 170 hostage at Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali

Investigators in Mali yesterday were hunting at least three people suspected of links to the assault.

On Friday, extremists attacked the Radisson hotel in the capital of Bamako taking hostage 170 people – 140 guests and 30 employees of the hotel.

The Mali raid came a week after Islamic State militants killed 129 people in a series of shootings and explosions in Paris, the worst atrocity in Europe in nearly a decade.

Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned the killings of the Chinese citizens, and pledged that Beijing will strengthen cooperation with the worldwide community in fighting terrorism.

The victims included several Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American and a Senegalese.

At least 20 people and two attackers were killed in Friday’s attack.

Al-Mourabitoun, an al-Qaeda-linked group led by Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, claimed it carried out the attack alongside al-Qaeda’s north African affiliate. “This morning, investigators have begun to arrive to do their work”, Berthe said, adding that President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was also expected later in the day. Hours later, troops stormed the hotel and moved room to room evacuating guests, while French and USA security forces aided the operation.

“This barbarity only stiffens our resolve to meet this challenge”, Obama said of the global terrorist threat. “We are in the process of securing the hotel”, a Malian military source said as civil protection officers removed the victims in orange body bags. French President Francois Hollande said that it was time again for world leaders to stand firm and show solidarity with a friendly country, Mali.

In 2013, French forces managed to reverse the takeover of much of Mali by Islamist militants.

The extremists were scattered from northern towns and cities, but the north remains insecure and militant attacks have extended farther south this year.

But it is a large country with porous borders and areas of ungoverned space in which jihadist groups have been able to hide and plan attacks, our correspondent says.