Two suspects in custody over Mali hotel attack

The attack has been claimed by al-Mourabitoun, an extremist group, which said it had cooperated with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, and the Macina Liberation Front, a group active in central Mali that said it had worked with yet another militant group, Ansar Dine.

The coffins of three Chinese victims killed in a hostage situation at a hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako last week were returned to their homeland on Friday.

Further details are awaited. Security forces in the country are looking into the possibility that the groups might have collaborated on the incident. Sangho did not reveal the names of the suspects, according to Newsweek.

“Questioning of the two suspects will help to shed more light on the motivations of the perpetrators of this terrorist attack which left 22 people dead”, it said.

“They were found after a phone at the scene was connected to both suspects.”

As per the phone records, it has been found that one of the individuals has been in regular contact with one of the gunmen who initiated the attack since August this year.

Malian authorities have been interrogating the suspects since their arrest.

Another informed source spoke of “three or four accomplices” believed to have aided the “foreign” gunmen who attacked the hotel frequented by businessmen, diplomats and other expatriates.

“To force me to talk they poured 40 liters of water in my mouth and over my nostrils, which made it so that I could not breathe anymore”. A French-led United Nations operation has attempted to bring stability to the region, with limited success.

Military pressure largely drove Islamist militants from major cities, but they regrouped in the desert areas.