Mali Siege Ends With 13 Dead

At least 13 people are thought to have been killed, including five UN workers, in a hostage siege at a hotel in the central Malian town of Sevare.

A further four UN workers survived by hiding in cupboards for almost 24 hours as the attack unfolded.

The suspected Islamist gunmen had retreated to the hotel after attacking a nearby army base.

The siege was ended after government troops stormed the building early on Saturday.

No group has accepted responsibility for the attack.

Four of the gunmen are dead and seven have been arrested, while four Malian soldiers were said to have been killed in the attack and eight wounded.

Minusma, the United Nations’ mission in Mali, said in a statement that two Ukrainians, a Nepalese, a South African and a Malian died in the siege.
The four that walked out alive had kept in touch with the outside world on their mobile phones.

The gunmen burst into the Byblos Hotel early on Friday, sparking fierce exchanges of gunfire with the army who soon surrounded the building.
Mali has been fighting Islamist rebels in the north for a number of years.

In recent months Islamist militants have shifted their attention from the north of Mali, where French and UN peacekeepers are stationed, to the south and centre of the country, says the BBC’s Alex Duval Smith in the capital, Bamako.