(MENAFN- The Peninsula) A deadly hostage drama at a Mali hotel in which 13 people died - including five UN workers - was claimed yesterday by fighters linked to the notorious one-eyed Algerian jihadi leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar.
A radical associated with militant Malian Islamic leader Amadou Koufa said he gave his "blessing" for the attack on the Byblos Hotel in the central town of Sevare.
Koufa has ties to Belmokhtar - known as "The Uncatchable" - the former head of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) who now leads his own extremist Al-Murabitoun group.
"The hand of Allah has guided the mujahedeen of Sevare against the enemies of Islam," Souleyman Mohamed Kennen said in Bamako.
The stand-off with the hostage-takers, which began early last Friday, ended nearly 24 hours later when Malian troops stormed the hotel.
Souleyman claimed the group was also behind the killing of three Malian soldiers last Monday when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device close to Diabozo, near Sevare.
Four other troops were wounded, the government said.
Jihadist attacks long concentrated in the north of Mali - where extremists linked to AQIM still exercise much control - began spreading to the centre of the country earlier this year, even as far south as the borders with Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso in June.
The US said it targeted Belmokhtar in an air strike in the Libyan desert the same month, but AQIM denied reports about its former leader having been killed.
A regional security source said, "In claiming responsibility for the Sevare attack, Souleyman is also speaking for the other jihadi groups."
The Byblos Hotel was in ruins after the siege with bullet-riddled walls, doors torn from their hinges and sheets and pillows stained with blood.
Details of the deadly stand-off emerged last Monday with the family of one of the victims saying he sent them messages on WhatsApp during the shootout.
A Malian military source confirmed that foreign special forces had been involved when they stormed the hotel, without giving further details.
The Bamako government said four soldiers, five UN workers and four "terrorists" were killed. Among the victims were two Ukrainians, a Nepali, a South African and a Malian driver.
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