‘Jihadists’ kill two civilians in Mali tourist resort

MALI’S government said yesterday five suspected jhadists were in custody after an assault on a popular tourist resort near the capital, Bamako, which left two civilians dead.

Four attackers were killed at the scene, Security Minister Salif Traore said, while 36 hostages were freed following the incident at the Kangaba Le Campement resort on Sunday afternoon, the majority of them French and Malian.

Jihadists constantly target domestic and foreign forces in Mali’s troubled north and centre, but attacks on civilians in and around the capital are much rarer, with the last major incident in November 2015 when gunmen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel.

That attack, which killed 20 people, caused the government to instate a state of emergency which has been in place more or less ever since.

Residents living close to the Kangaba resort had first reported the attack after hearing shots while smoke billowed into the air, with at least one building ablaze, and special forces remained on the scene yesterday, Traore said.

A witness interviewed on local television ORTM said he saw a man arrive on a motorcycle who “started shooting” followed by “two or three people” who came in another vehicle. Others said the assailants had shouted “Allahu Akbar” – Arabic for “God is greatest”. So far, no group has yet claimed responsibility.

Despite the presence of a 12,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission and some of the 4,000 French troops serving in a separate counter-terrorism force operating across the Sahel region, instability is growing.

France is pressing the UN Security Council to quickly adopt a resolution to fund and support a new African anti-jihadist force in the Sahel, comprising troops from Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.