Two arrested in connection with Bamako hotel attack

He declined to provide more details related to the arrests or the ongoing investigation, saying only that officials were studying materials recovered from the scene for clues.

Malian special forces have arrested two men they believe are linked to the deadly hotel attack carried out by militants last week, authorities said in a statement Friday.

“There are two suspects arrested”, said Amadou Sangho, a spokesman for the ministry, without naming them.

Six Malians and six Russians were killed along with three Chinese, two Belgians, one American, one Israeli and one Senegalese, he said. However this ended when Malian commandos stormed the hotel and freed 170 hostages.

Combination photo provided by Mali’s intelligence agency shows two suspects of the attack on a hotel in Bamako on November 20. It is unclear what role the two men took in the day-long siege that left about 19 dead.

One of the suspects have been in contact with one of the gunmen since August, while the other sent telephone credit to an attacker.

Similarly, a source close to the investigation said the suspects had been brought in for interrogation, based on information found in one of the attacker’s mobile phones. The attack has-been claimed by the Al-Mourabitoun extremist group, which stated it had worked in concert with al-Qaida within the Islamic Maghreb.

While Mali has certainly had its own problem with terrorists operating in its northern region, the attack raised the question of possible coordinated strikes on allies of the west which present softer targets because of less extensive security and surveillance abilities. Security forces in the country are looking into the possibility that the groups might have collaborated on the incident.