Mali arrests two suspects linked to Bamako hotel attack

Mali’s security ministry arrested two people suspected of links to an attack on a luxury hotel in the country’s capital that killed 20 people, the ministry said on Thursday. At least two armed men attacked the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako on Friday in a dawn raid, killing six Russians, three Chinese and an American among others, in the worst jihadist strike on the West African country in years. The siege ended hours later when Malian commandos stormed the hotel and freed 170 hostages. Two attackers were killed. “There are two suspects arrested,” said Amadou Sangho, a spokesman for the ministry. The two attackers have not yet been identified. Three Islamist militant groups have claimed the strike. A source close to the probe investigation said the suspects had been brought in for interrogation, based on information found in 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.