Mali Terror Attack: Group Linked to Al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility
The attack was on Le Campement resort in Dougourakoro.
- Gunmen stormed a luxury resort in outside Mali’s capital Bamako
- Five people were killed in the attack
- Security forces rescued 36 people from the resort
- Five militants were killed by the Malian security forces, backed by French troops
Militant Group Linked to Al Qaeda Claims Responsibility
A new alliance of Islamist militant groups linked to al Qaeda on Monday claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least five people.
Mali's Security Ministry said in a statement late on Monday that four of the dead were guests and one was a local soldier who died in the firefight.
Malian Security Forces Kill Five Militants
Malian security forces killed five militants involved in an attack over the weekend on a luxury resort popular with Western expatriates outside Mali's capital Bamako, the security minister said on Monday.
Traore added that the militants had some accomplices who had not been killed or detained.
Rescue Ops On
Security forces rescued 36 guests from the resort, a security ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
Four gunmen arriving on motorbikes and a car stormed Le Campement Kangaba, near Dougourakoro, to the east of the capital Bamako, a resort that foreign residents visit for weekend breaks. Malian security forces backed by French troops deployed to push them out.
Five Killed in the Attack
Five people were killed in the attack.
Mali's Security Ministry said in a statement late on Monday that four of the dead were guests and one was a local soldier who died in the firefight.
The nationalities of the dead were a French-Malian, a French-Gabonese, a Chinese, a Portuguese and a Malian soldier, the ministry said. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, confirmed that two of the dead were working for its mission there.
Gunmen Storm Le Campement Kangaba in Dougourakoro
A luxury resort popular with Western expatriates outside Mali's capital Bamako came under attack by gunmen on Sunday, the Security Ministry said.
Gunmen stormed Le Campement Kangaba in Dougourakoro, to the east of the capital Bamako, a resort foreign residents often visit for weekend breaks. There were no details of casualties but the attack was continuing on Sunday evening.
"Security forces are in place. Campement Kangaba is blocked off and an operation is under way," Security Ministry spokesman Baba Cisse said by telephone. "The situation is under control."
Worsening Security Since 2013
Security has gradually worsened in Mali since French forces pushed back allied Islamist and Tuareg rebel fighters in 2013 from swathes of the north they had occupied the previous year.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and another militant group claimed responsibility in an attack on a hotel in Mali's capital in late 2015, in which 20 people were killed.
French troops and a 10,000-strong UN peacekeeping force have battled to stabilise the former French colony and strikes on Malian and Western targets have spread further south and far beyond traditional militant strongholds.
(With inputs from Reuters.)
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