Attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako on November 20, 2015

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On November 20, 2015 was a stop with a subsequent hostage-taking at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako , the capital and largest city of Mali , committed. The attack on the hotel - which is particularly popular among foreigners - killed at least 20 people before security forces ended the hostage situation. The Murabitun militia , which is part of the al-Qaida network, claimed responsibility. Daesh followers , however, blamed Boko Haram .

Sequence of events

At least two men arrived at the hotel between 7:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. UTC in a vehicle with diplomatic license plates . Then, according to reports, the men from the car and others who were hiding in the back of the car stormed into the hotel, shouted " Allahu Akbar " and started shooting at hotel guests and employees. According to the operator of the hotel, the hostage-takers took 125 guests and 13 employees hostage; the Malian military spoke of "around a hundred hostages". The Associated Press and Al-Jazeera reported that around 170 hostages had been taken. The Malian journalist Kassim Traoré describes that the hostages were asked to recite the Muslim Creed ( Shahāda ) in order to separate non-Muslims from Muslims. The latter were released.

The hostages are said to have included at least ten Chinese, twenty Indian, six American, seven Algerian, two Russian and two Moroccan citizens, plus seven Turkish Airlines employees and an unknown number of French citizens. Twelve Air France employees are also said to have been among the hostages. According to the airline Volga-Dnepr Airlines, there were also twelve Russian crew members of the airlines in the hotel, six of whom died in the hostage-taking.

UN peacekeepers supported the Malian security forces in storming the hotel, as did 25 American military personnel who were training Malian security forces at the time. In the evening the military stormed the hotel. In total there should have been at least 27 deaths.

Assassin

While the hostage-taking was still in progress , the Al-Qaeda- affiliated group Al-Mourabitoun confessed to the act on Twitter . They also confessed to the act in a sound recording provided by Al Jazeera.

Al-Mourabitoun is an Islamist-jihadist extremist group consisting of Tuareg and Arabs from northern Mali who are considered to belong to Al-Qaeda. This group, led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar , was founded in 2013 and operates out of the Sahara . Al-Mourabitoun claimed responsibility for an attack on a restaurant in Bamako in March 2015, in which five people were killed. The group also assumed responsibility for a suicide attack on UN peacekeepers in northern Mali in April 2015, in which three people were killed, and for an attack on a hotel in the central Malian town of Sévaré . 17 people were killed in the latter attack.

Reactions

The Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta shortened his state visit to Chad and immediately returned to Bamako. He declared a state of emergency for Mali and called for three days of national mourning .

The French government, which is using soldiers to fight the rebels in northern Mali, has announced that it will take all necessary steps to combat the attackers in Bamako. The French Foreign Ministry set up a crisis team at the French embassy in Bamako. The government also sent 40 special forces from the Groupe d'intervention de la gendarmerie nationale to support and advise the Malian security forces. Air France temporarily suspended its flights to Bamako.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mali hotel attack: 21 dead in Radisson Blu; attackers inside. CNN , accessed November 20, 2015 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e Dionne Searcey, Adam Nossiter: Mali Hotel Attack Leaves Dozens Dead; Siege Appears Near End . In: The New York Times . November 20, 2015 ( nytimes.com [accessed November 20, 2015]).
  3. ↑ Reuters (ed.): At least 27 dead after Islamists seize luxury hotel in Mali's capital . November 20, 2015 ( reuters.com [accessed November 20, 2015]).
  4. ^ A b Natali Ilsley: Al-Mourabitoun Group Claims Responsibility for Mali Attack. In: Newsweek.com. November 20, 2015, accessed November 20, 2015 .
  5. ^ Sarah Lynch, Shane Dixon Kavanaugh: Al Qaeda Splinter Group Claims Attack On Luxury Hotel In Mali. In: vocativ.com. November 20, 2015, accessed December 6, 2015 .
  6. ↑ 'No more hostages' as Mali hotel stormed. In: aljazeera.com. Retrieved November 20, 2015 .
  7. ↑ The Latest: 4 Germans survive Mali seige. In: The Big Story. Retrieved November 20, 2015 (American English).
  8. ↑ Official Statement by Volga-Dnepr Airlines Regarding The Tragedy In Bamako, Mali. In: volga-dnepr.com. Retrieved December 6, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Reuters (ed.): Al Qaeda-affiliated group claims Mali hotel attack . November 20, 2015 ( reuters.com [accessed November 20, 2015]).
  10. ^ After hostage-taking in Mali: President imposes a state of emergency at tagesschau.de, November 21, 2015; accessed on November 21, 2015.

Coordinates: 12 ° 38 ′ 6.7 ″  N , 8 ° 1 ′ 50.9 ″  W.