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European Knight
08-10-2015, 08:13 PM
Phone numbers point to 'jihadist link' to Mali hotel siege: officials

Bamako: Telephone numbers and addresses found on the bodies of four "terrorists" killed in a deadly hotel hostage siege in Mali point the finger of blame at a jihadist group, officials said Monday. Five UN workers were among the victims when troops

ended the protracted standoff with jihadists by storming the Byblos Hotel in the central town of Sevare on Saturday.

Investigators said there were "strong suspicions" the hostage-takers were from the Macina Liberation Front (FLM), an Islamist extremist group drawn from the Fulani people from the centre of the country.

"Investigators found telephone numbers and address on the bodies of the terrorists, which supports the FLM theory," a security source in Sevare said.

"An identity card found on one of them has the name Tamboura and showed he was born in Tenenkou, a village in the Macina area," she added.

The Malian government said four Malian soldiers, five UN workers and four "terrorists" were killed. The casualties included two Ukrainians, a Nepalese and a South African, according to the UN mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Phone numbers point to 'jihadist link' to Mali hotel siege: officials (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150810/world-africa/article/phone-numbers-point-jihadist-link-mali-hotel-siege-officials)


Group linked to al Qaeda says responsible for Mali siege: al Jazeera

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Sahara-based Islamist militant group al-Mourabitoun has claimed responsibility for a hotel siege in central Mali at the weekend in which 17 people died, Qatari-based television network Al Jazeera reported on Monday.

The attack began early on Friday and ended nearly 24 hours later when security forces stormed the building in the city of Sevare, some 600 km (375 miles) northeast of the Malian capital Bamako.

The dead included nine civilians, five of whom worked for the U.N. mission in Mali (MINUSMA), as well as four Malian soldiers and four militants.

Al Jazeera said on its website it had received a brief statement from the organization founded by veteran Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar claiming responsibility.

There was no independent confirmation from the group, which is linked to al Qaeda and has been behind several attacks against Western interests in the Sahel region.

"Elements of the Al-Murabitoun group which follows Al Qaeda, following a lengthy period of surveillance and diligence, managed to carry out the operation in the city of Sevare, and specifically on the Byblos Hotel, which was inhabited by

Western nationals," al Jazeera quoted the statement as saying.

"We will issue a subsequent statement with full details of the operation," the group said.

Group linked to al Qaeda says responsible for Mali siege: al Jazeera | Top News | Reuters (http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKCN0QF1TE20150810)