Mali state TV shows pics of ‘authors’ of hotel attack

Mali state television showed images on Monday of two men, apparently dead, that it said were the “authors” of an attack by Islamist 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.

Jihadist group Al Mourabitoun and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb 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 the identity of those shown in the images to come forward.