Mali in mourning as siege hotel yields clues
Date
11/24/2015 3:41:29 AM
Bamako:French and UN investigators joined a Mali police probe into a jihadist siege at a luxury hotel that left at least 20 dead as flags were lowered Monday for three days of mourning.
Security was tightened at hotels in the capital Bamako while neighbouring nations Senegal Mauritania and Guinea joined in the three days of mourning over Friday's bloodshed.
Benin's President Thomas Yayi Boni said after visiting the Radisson Blu hotel where the killings took place that the "odious attack" was aimed at "frightening off international investors".
The assault began Friday morning when gunmen went on the rampage at the hotel shooting in the corridors and taking 170 guests and staff hostage before Malian and international troops stormed the building.
Prosecutor Boubacar Sidiki Samake who is in charge of the anti-terrorist probe said late Monday that the toll had climbed from 19 to 20 dead with nine people injured.
The two gunmen were also killed in the attack he said on Malian public television.
The UN peacekeeping force in Mali (MINUSMA) which is helping with the inquiry gave the same toll.
The hotel was popular with businessmen diplomats and other expatriates and many foreigners were among those killed including six Russians three Chinese two Belgians an American an Israeli and a Senegalese national.
The attack has been claimed by two separate jihadist groups and investigators are searching for possible accomplices.
Samake said the investigation was advancing.
"It is clear that they had accomplices who helped them come to the hotel" he said about the gunmen adding that police had staged several raids on homes.
The police found a suitcase with grenades in the hotel lobby and were following up "several leads" linked to "objects" left by the gunmen a Malian police source told AFP.
Gunmen spoke English
The Al-Murabitoun group an Al-Qaeda affiliate led by notorious one-eyed Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group said Sunday there were only two attackers and suggested they were Malian.
In a recording broadcast by Al-Jazeera a spokesman identified them as Abdelhakim al-Ansari and Moez al-Ansari the term "al-Ansari" indicating they were indigenous jihadists.
But a jihadist group from central Mali the Macina Liberation Front (LWF) also claimed the attack in a statement sent to AFP Sunday saying it was carried out by a squad of five including "three who came out safe and sound".
Guinean singer Sekouba Bambino Diabate who was among the survivors told AFP the gunmen spoke English among themselves.
On Monday national TV released photos of two dead men said to be the attackers along with a telephone number to call to offer information.
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has said Belmokhtar one of the world's most wanted men was "likely" the brains behind the assault.
French forensic specialists have arrived in Bamako to help with the identification of the victims.
AFP