BAMAKO—Mali was hunting Saturday for the suspects wanted over the jihadist siege at a luxury hotel that left 19 people dead, mostly foreigners, as the president warned that no one in the world could hide from terrorism.
The government declared a state of emergency after the bloody nine-hour hostage-taking at the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital Bamako on Friday, exactly a week after the Paris attacks.
The Al-Murabitoun group, an Al-Qaeda affiliate led by the notorious one-eyed Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, nicknamed the “Uncatchable” or “Mr Marlboro”, claimed the attack.
Gunmen went on the rampage from the early morning, shooting in the corridors and taking 170 guests and staff hostage.
The assault, which ended when Malian and international troops stormed the hotel, left 19 people dead as well as two attackers, Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said.
The victims included six Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American, an Israeli, a Senegalese and a member of the Malian special forces.
Authorities are now “actively pursuing” at least three people over the attack in the former French colony, one security source told AFP.
Keita, who vowed in a televised address on the day of the siege that “terror will not win”, visited the site Saturday.
“Nowhere in the world is one safe from these barbarians from another era,” he said, adding that the attackers had “decided to break with humanity”.
Senegalese President Macky Sall, who heads the regional Economic Community of West African States, will travel to Bamako on Sunday to offer his condolences, his office said.
Mali will begin three days of national mourning Monday.
“It’s very scary. It’s as if Bamako has become a war zone,” said local teacher Oumar Keita. “How were they able to get here, how did they get the weapons?”
Security remained tight around the Radisson and other hotels in Bamako and was also boosted discreetly at public buildings and banks.
The attack came as fears mount over jihadist threats a week after 130 people died in the Paris attacks claimed by the Islamic State group, which also said it had downed a Russian passenger jet in Egypt on October 31.