Armed men held 170 guests and staff in a siege that lasted
about nine hours last Friday [File: Jerome Delay/AP]
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Two people suspected of having links to a siege at a luxury
hotel in Mali's capital Bamako earlier this month have been
arrested, the country's security ministry has said.
Amadou Sangho, a spokesman for the ministry, confirmed
the arrests on Thursday, but did not reveal the identities
and the alleged roles of the suspects in the attack on the
Radisson Blu hotel.
A source close to the investigation told the Reuters news
agency that the suspects had been brought in for
interrogation, based on information found on one of the
attacker's mobile phones.
One of them had been regularly in touch since August,
while another sent telephone credit to an attacker, he said.
Rival claims
Armed men held 170 guests and staff in a siege that lasted
about nine hours last Friday before Malian and
international forces stormed the hotel.
Twenty people were killed, including 14 foreigners, along
with two attackers, while nine people were wounded.
Security Minister Salif Traore said on Thursday that there
were only two attackers armed with AK-47 assault rifles.
"They opened fire from the entrance of the hotel, in the
lobby, the restaurant, various corridors. They fired on
people indiscriminately," he told the country's parliament.
The al-Murabitoun group, an al-Qaeda affiliate led by
Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, claimed on Friday it was
behind the deadly raid.
Two days later, another armed group from central Mali, the
Macina Liberation Front (LWF), also claimed responsibility,
saying it was carried out by a squad of five, including
"three who came out safe and sound".
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