Mali’s 10-hour siege
27 including five attackers dead in biggest hostage
standoff:
Soldiers in Mali’s capital shot their way into a Radisson Blu hotel
and liberated dozens of captives after a 10-hour siege by Islamist
gunmen that left 27 people dead, including five attackers, ending one of
the biggest hostage standoffs in recent years.
Troops from France—the former colonial power—and United Nations
peacekeepers blocked roads while Malian soldiers with Kalashnikov rifles
fought their way to the top floor of the seven-story hotel in Bamako.
Inside, five gunmen had been holding 170 hostages. Several hours
earlier, the gunmen—who witnesses said chanted “Allahu akbar” as they
burst into the hotel around dawn—released 30 hostages who said they
successfully recited the Islamic profession of faith.
Malian military officials confirmed the death toll Friday evening
(20) without identifying the other 22 people killed.
“When the terrorists understood that we were coming for them, they
executed the hostages in their possession,” said one soldier. Next to
him, another soldier had tears streaming down his face. “He just lost
his friend,” the first soldier said.
It remained unclear who conducted the attack. Early on, officials
feared it was the work of Islamic State allies looking to strike French
interests, a week after the group killed 130 people in Paris. But those
fears didn’t appear to be borne out by early evidence, and Islamic State
made no claim of responsibility.
Own groups
Mali has some half-dozen Islamist groups. For three years, al Qaeda
allies here have been waging smaller assaults on police and soldiers on
a monthly basis, alongside threats of worse to come.
Last week, Mali’s most prominent Islamist commander, Iyad Ag Ghaly,
called for attacks on French targets, and the Radisson, used by French
officials, seems in keeping with that. Linked to al Qaeda, he is on the
State Department’s list of specially designated global terrorists.
Several al Qaeda-linked accounts on Twitter cheered Friday’s attack as a
success.
All told, Friday’s siege underscored how vast and complex the fight
against Islamist terrorism has become, stretching from the Middle East
to the capitals of Europe to this expansive, troubled country in the
West of the Sahara.
“This is the attack that we’ve all been waiting for the last two
years. Everybody who follows Mali has been surprised that this hasn’t
happened before,” said Andrew Lebovich, visiting fellow at the European
Council of Foreign Relations. “You have so many various groups trying to
make their day in the sun. We’ll continue to have these attacks.”
For France, the hotel raid spotlights how stretched the country’s
military has become in what President François Hollande called a “war
with jihadist terrorism that threatens the whole world.”
Mali, like Syria today, was once the focus of French counterterrorism
attention. In 2013, some 3,000 French troops arrived here to chase down
al Qaeda militants. Since then, France has been drawn in elsewhere. Its
troops are in Chad and Niger, trying to help Nigeria battle Boko Haram.
They are in Central African Republic, attempting to mediate a peace
between Christians and Muslims. This past week, French aircraft were
striking Islamic State positions in Syria.Mali, meanwhile, has become a
bit of a forgotten front—and a more dangerous nation. Attacks on UN
personnel here have made this the United Nations’ deadliest peacekeeping
mission. Judging by a regular stream of terrorist threats, civilians
seem increasingly fair game, too.
“I’ve already told our people, without scaring them, that they should
just get a little bit used to this,” President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita
said. “Nobody nowhere is safe.”
Friday’s attack began around 6 am. local time when gunmen carjacked a
diplomatic SUV approaching the Radisson, a military official said. After
driving through the hotel gate, the gunmen released the driver, shot a
security guard and stormed the hotel, witnesses said. By 11 am, the
hotel was surrounded by about 20 French soldiers and more than 100 UN
peacekeepers and Malian troops. Tanks and armored cars blocked the
roads. A French jet fighter screeched overhead, breaking the otherwise
eerie silence of a tense standoff.
Amadou Keita, a driver for the Acte Sept cultural center across the
street, was holed up with three colleagues: “We want to find a way to
leave and go home,” he said.
By afternoon, the president had cut short a trip to nearby Chad and
flew home.
Fear psychosis
Hollande began regular contacts with Malian authorities. Most French
troops in Mali had been deployed in the desert hundreds of miles north,
but the French Interior Ministry sent French Special Forces to Bamako.
“With the means we have in the area, we will do what is possible to
obtain the freedom of the hostages,” Hollande said during the standoff.
“Once again, terrorists want to mark with their barbaric presence all
places where they can kill or massacre.”
As the afternoon dragged on, the sound of gunfire accelerated. The
sound of small explosions, like grenades, came from inside. By the time
the siege ended, the hotel walls were pocked with bullet holes and
bodies lay strewed about. Ambulances lined up to pick up the dead.
Air France announced it was cancelling flights to Bamako on the 20th.
US aircraft have conducted more than 730 airlift supply and refueling
missions in support of French military operations in Mali since January
2013, according to the Defense Department. Of the 26 US military and
civilian military personnel in Mali, 10 are providing planning and
coordination support to the UN mission. The remaining 16 personnel were
attending a UN event or assigned to the US Embassy in Bamako, the
Pentagon said.
The security situation in the region—including the threat posed by
Boko Haram, al Qaeda affiliates and a growing Islamic State presence in
Libya—has triggered particular interest by US policy makers.
The US military has deployed special operations forces training teams
to countries such as Mali, Mauritania and others for a range of military
exercises. The Pentagon also has established drone bases in the region,
including one announced this fall in Cameroon, and is seeking bases for
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and possibly other
operations.
-Wall Street Journal |