Mali Will Mourn for Three Days After Hotel Siege

Mali began three days of national mourning Monday for victims of an attack at a hotel that left 19 people dead in the capital city Bamako. Senegal, Mauritania and Guinea will also observe the remembrance with their West African neighbor.

“Mali will never be alone in this fight, we are all committed because we are all involved,” Senegal’s President Macky Sall said Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse.

On Friday morning, gunmen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel and held 170 guests and staff hostage until Malian and international forces broke the siege hours later. The assailants have yet to be identified, but two jihadist groups have claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Read more: The Terror Groups That Could Be Behind the Mali Hotel Attack

Mali, a former French colony, has been plagued by violence since Islamic militants took control of the north of the country in 2012. These groups were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in 2013 but continue to launch attacks, including on U.N. peacekeepers stationed in the region.

[AFP]