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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34877069
Malian special forces have entered the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital, Bamako, to end a siege by gunmen who had been holding 170 people hostage. The gunmen stormed the US-owned hotel, which is popular with foreign businesses and airline crews, shooting and shouting "God is great!" in Arabic. Malian state TV is reporting that 80 people have now been freed. At least three people are reported to have been killed in the siege that started around 07:00 GMT. Six staff from Turkish Airlines were at the hotel when it was attacked, and a Chinese guest told China's state news agency Xinhua he was among about seven Chinese tourists trapped there. A French presidential source said French citizens were also at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Reuters news agency reports.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali
Official languages: French
(Score: 5, Informative) by Thexalon on Friday November 20 2015, @02:14PM
There's been a civil war in Mali [wikipedia.org] going on for the last 3 years. The losing side (a group calling itself the "National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad" or MNLA, Azawad being the region they were based in) has occasionally engaged in terrorist attacks since their official surrender a few months ago.
They were caught between the "official" Mali government backed by France (a group of military officers that ousted the president in a coup just before an election was going to take place), and Ansar Dine, an Al-Qaida associated group.
Point being this probably has nothing to do with Syria, the US, or Daesh, and everything to do with the fact that there is nobody in Mali seen universally as a legitimate government.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday November 21 2015, @04:10AM
Point being this probably has nothing to do with Syria, the US, or Daesh, and everything to do with the fact that there is nobody in Mali seen universally as a legitimate government.
Unless, it happens to intentionally be the third high profile attack in a row. Ansar Dine and ISIS do have common enemies and there might be a greater scheme here. We will see.