Mali police launch search for hotel attack gangsters

Bamako, Friday. Mali was hunting Saturday for 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 has 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 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.

- ‘Break with humanity’ -

Keita, who vowed in a televised address on the day of the siege that “terror will not win”, visited the site Saturday.