DHAKA: A 10-day state of emergency has been announced in Mali following an attack on a hotel by suspected Islamist militants in the capital, Bamako, in which gunmen killed 19 people.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has also declared three days of mourning.

Announcing the death toll, the president said two militants had also been killed.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its affiliate, al-Murabitoun, said they carried out the attack.

More than 130 hotel guests and staff were freed when Malian special forces, French special forces and off-duty US servicemen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel on Friday to break the siege.

Among those killed were three Chinese business executives, and China's President Xi Jinping has called the attack ‘cruel and savage’, the media report, says the BBC.

A US national was also killed, and US President Barack Obama said the attack was yet another reminder that the ‘scourge of terrorism’ threatened many nations.

UK foreign secretary Philip Hammond said three Britons in the hotel were safe.

President Keita said Mali would ‘do everything to eradicate terrorism’ in the country.

Earlier reports said at least 27 people had died.

A UN official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 12 bodies were found in the basement and 15 on the second floor.

** Mali hotel hostage stand-off over, US says

BDST: 1644 HRS, Nov 21, 2015
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