One American killed in attack on hotel in Mali – State Department

Two gunmen took 170 hostages during an attack at the Radisson Blu Hotel in the Malian capital, Bamako, its owner, Rezidor Hotel Group, said.

Officers evacuate bodies of victims from the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali on November 20, 2015, after the assault of security forces.

“Everything is being done to follow the tracks” of the suspects, the source said, declining to give further details to avoid compromising the investigation.

It is thought that at least two attackers were killed in the shoot-out after Malian and French special forces stormed the worldwide hotel but as many as 10 individuals were believed to have attacked the compound on Friday.

Meanwhile, Algerian security forces, which have been on high alert since the Paris terrorist attacks last week, say they have captured three militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS).

In an audio recording broadcast by Al-Jazeera television, Belmokhtar’s group claimed responsibility, saying it had worked with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

The wider global community has also has an interest as the hotel is popular with foreign nationals, many of whom were caught up in the siege.

The statement claimed the Mourabitounes had attacked in coordination with the Sahara Emirate affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Four other Chinese citizens were among those rescued when Malian authorities stormed the hotel, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.

Mali was under a state of emergency on Saturday after a brazen siege by gunmen at a five-star hotel killed 21 people in the heart of the capital, Bamako.

Forty French special force members were sent to Mali Friday morning.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has also declared three days of mourning.

A French-led intervention in 2013 drove the extremists out, but sporadic violence continued across the north.

French President Francois Hollande said that it was time again for world leaders to stand firm and show solidarity with a friendly country, Mali.

A US State Department official confirmed a 41-year-old American aid worker was among the victims, with another dozen Americans surviving the attack, while a Belgian regional assembly said one of its officials was also killed.