UN condemns attack on Mali hotel

Malian soldiers stormed Hotel Byblos in Sevare on Saturday, killing suspected Islamist militants and rescuing four UN contractors. Twelve people were killed in total, including members of the special forces, the Islamists, and as many as five people working for the UN who were thought to have been staying at the hotel.

The UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA is in Mali to help implement a peace agreement with Tuareg-led rebels after French and Malian troops drove Islamist insurgents from large swathes of the north of the country.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman on Saturday condemned the attack on a Mali hotel by militants, and confirmed the death of at least one UN contractor.

"This attack will not lessen the determination of the United Nations to accompany the Malian people in their efforts to implement the peace agreement," the statement said, referring to the UN peacekeeping mission MINUSMA. There are fears that at least two more foreign guests at the hotel were killed in the fighting.

Hidden Russian 'supplied information'

Islamist extremists started their attack on the hotel, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) northeast of the capital, Bamako, on Friday morning. The unknown rebels laid siege to at least three hotels, but the standoff at the Byblos lasted longest, leading Malian special forces to storm the hotel on Saturday morning.

A source told the AFP news agency that a Russian man "hidden inside the building" had supplied "useful information" to Malian forces during the siege.

The South African Foreign Ministry confirmed that one South African citizen, a 38-year-old from Pretoria, had died. A Malian military spokesman said another two guests who were killed were from Russia and Ukraine.

"We freed the four hostages. But unfortunately we also found three bodies at the site," said Malian Defence Ministry spokesman Diaran Koné.

Presence not detected

The United Nations said four of its contractors had survived the fighting because they had hidden to escape detection. "Our contractors survived because at no time was their presence discovered by the terrorists in the hotel," said UN mission in Mali spokeswoman Radhia Achouri, adding that the four would soon be transferred to Bamako. The four rescued individuals were also said to have come from South Africa, Russia and Ukraine.

Another UN official, who did not wish to be identified, said that other UN personnel might still be missing.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Several Islamist groups are known to operate in the country, principally in northern Mali. Coming as far south as it did, the attack highlighted the threat still posed by al-Qaeda-linked insurgents who took control of northern Mali in 2012.

Attacks have spread from the north to the center of the country, and in June spread south around Mali's borders with Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.

rc/gsw (AFP, EPD; AP, Reuters)