Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has declared three days of mourning for the 20 people killed in a hotel siege in Bamako in the country on Saturday. The president said the government is determined to track down the culprits who planned and executed the hotel attack, and vowed that the city would not be shut down, The Guardian reported. He also extended a state of emergency for 10 days. The incident was condemned by many world leaders, including French President Francois Hollande who has sent troops to the country and pledged support.
Two gunmen were shot dead in the attack, which was claimed by two extremist groups: a local Al Qaeda offshoot and Algerian-born jihadi leader Mokhtar Belmokhta’s group. The attack killed mostly foreigners, including Anita Datar, a 41-year-old American Indian aid worker. Datar worked at an international development firm and had worked in the US Peace Corps as well. She recently served as founding member of a non-profit organisation that did outreach work in Chennai, said The Times of India.
The siege was the second such attack on a high-profile target in the country this year. In March, five people were shot dead in a restaurant in the capital. Violent extremism is growing in large parts of West Africa, which is teeming with militant groups. A suicide attack by militant group Boko Haram on Saturday killed 10 people in Cameroon.
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