Mali state TV shows photos of ‘authors’ of Bamako hotel attack

Bamako: Mali state television showed images on Monday of two men, apparently dead, that it said were the “authors” of an attack by militants on a luxury hotel in the capital Bamako and appealed for information as to their identity.

Twenty people plus two gunmen died in Friday’s assault on the Radisson Blu hotel. The victims included six Russians, three Chinese, an American, a Belgian, a Senegalese and an Israeli.

Al Mourabitoun and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) declared they had carried out the attack in a joint operation against the hotel, a favourite of foreign businessmen and diplomats.

A third group has also claimed responsibility.

The pictures on state television were of two young black men, one of them lying on a metal gurney, a trickle of blood running from beneath his left shoulder.

The broadcaster appealed for Malians who had any information about their identity to come forward.

The bloodshed, which came a week after IS attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, underlined deepening insecurity in Mali and the difficulties French and UN peacekeeping forces are having in stabilising the country.