United Nations chief condemns ‘horrific terrorist attack’ in Mali

Malian investigators were Sunday intensifying the hunt for suspects wanted over the extremist siege at a luxury hotel that left 19 people dead in the capital Bamako, where residents were seeking to return to normal life.

In certain destinations like Brussels that is now on highest terror alert we have increased number of security staff at our hotels – but independently from what happened in Bamako, this is a measurement we always apply if such situations arise.

One police official said investigators are following several leads in the case and have recovered evidence in the hotel from the more than seven-hour siege.

The assault which ended when Malian and global troops stormed the hotel left 19 people dead as well as two attackers President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said. Chivvis said in foreign cities that have experienced mass-casualty terrorist attacks, a few major hotels, shopping centers and other public venues have been “hardened” – with metal detectors and X-ray machines, and security guards checking bags and ID before people can enter.

Mali is likely to feature as a principal area of operations coordinated by AQIM as it launches attacks against nationals perceived to be “enemies of Islam”.

Credit for which was taken not by Ansar Dine or the other Islamist fighting groups, but by Al-Mourabitoun (“the Sentinels”), an al-Qaeda in the Maghreb offshoot led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian bandit and jihadist no less feared than Ag Ghali.

But a militant group from central Mali, the Macina Liberation Front (LWF), also claimed the attack in a statement sent on Sunday, saying it was carried out by a squad of five, including “three who came out safe and sound”.

Two of the troops were slightly injured, the statement said.

Mourabitoun named the pair through the Mauritanian state news agency al-Akhbar which reported it had received a second audio recording from the Jihadi group in the aftermath of the attacks.

He said group leader Iyad has been involved in every rebellion in Mali since the 1980s.

However, a witness had said there was at least one more attacker. At the time of the attack a group of Chinese investors from the China Railway Company building the railway from Bamako to Dakar were staying at the hotel.

Guinean singer Sekouba Bambino Diabate, who was among the survivors, said the gunmen spoke English among themselves.

After a March 2012 military coup plunged the country into chaos, Islamist extremists with links to al Qaeda carved out a large portion of northern Mali for themselves.