Malian investigators have stepped up the hunt for suspects wanted over the jihadist siege at a luxury hotel that left 19 people dead in the capital Bamako.
According to The Telegraph, security guards who witnessed the attack claim the terrorists behind Friday's assault were looking for Air France crew who were staying at the Radisson hotel.
Kasim Haidara was on duty when the gunmen stormed the hotel. He told The Telegraph the terrorists confronted one of his colleagues, Moussa Tiema-Konate, who was on the fifth floor at the time.
They demanded to know which floor the Air France staff were on.
Tiema-Konate deliberately told them the wrong floor, which they later realised and killed him for.
Air France has confirmed 12 crew were safely evacuated from the hotel, but has not commented on whether its staff were deliberately targeted.
"We are following several lines, but we won't be making a statement," a police source said.
Another informed source spoke of "three or four accomplices" believed to have aided the "foreign" gunmen who attacked the hotel frequented by businessmen, diplomats and other expatriates.
"Everything points to two foreigners," the source said.
Pope Francis yesterday offered his condolences to the Malian people, in the form of a telegram from the Vatican's Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, to the Archbishop of Bamako, Jean Zerbo.
The Pope, who travels to Africa this week, said he was "appalled by this senseless violence" and hoped for "the conversion of hearts and the gift of peace", in the troubled country.
Security remained high at the major hotels in Bamako. It was tighter than usual at public buildings and banks.
On Saturday, a security source said the authorities were "actively pursuing" at least three people over the attack in the former French colony.
Gunmen went on the rampage in the hotel from the early morning on Friday, shooting in the corridors and taking 170 guests and staff hostage.
The assault, which ended when Malian and international troops stormed the building, left 19 people dead as well as two attackers, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has said.
The victims included six Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American, an Israeli, a Senegalese and a member of the Malian special forces.
Mali will begin three days of mourning from today.
The attack appears to have had an immediate effect on the country's tourism industry with one major hotel saying it had received numerous cancellations, and that restaurant and business centre reservations were down.
Mali has been torn apart by unrest since the north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda in 2012.
The Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation launched the following year, but large swathes of Mali remain lawless.
France has more than 1000 troops in its former colony, a key battleground of the Barkhane counter-terror mission spanning five countries in Africa's restive Sahel region.
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are happy to receive your opinion and request. If you need advert or sponsored post, We’re excited you’re considering advertising or sponsoring a post on our blog. Your support is what keeps us going. With the current trend, it’s very obvious content marketing is the way to go. Banner advertising and trying to get customers through Google Adwords may get you customers but it has been proven beyond doubt that Content Marketing has more lasting benefits.
We offer majorly two types of advertising:
1. Sponsored Posts: If you are really interested in publishing a sponsored post or a press release, video content, advertorial or any other kind of sponsored post, then you are at the right place.
WHAT KIND OF SPONSORED POSTS DO WE ACCEPT?
Generally, a sponsored post can be any of the following:
Press release
Advertorial
Video content
Article
Interview
This kind of post is usually written to promote you or your business. However, we do prefer posts that naturally flow with the site’s general content. This means we can also promote artists, songs, cosmetic products and things that you love of all products or services.
DURATION & BONUSES
Every sponsored article will remain live on the site as long as this website exists. The duration is indefinite! Again, we will share your post on our social media channels and our email subscribers too will get to read your article. You’re exposing your article to our: Twitter followers, Facebook fans and other social networks.
We will also try as much as possible to optimize your post for search engines as well.
Submission of Materials : Sponsored post should be well written in English language and all materials must be delivered via electronic medium. All sponsored posts must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail on Microsoft Word unless otherwise noted.
PRICING
The price largely depends on if you’re writing the content or we’re to do that. But if your are writing the content, it is $60 per article.
2. Banner Advertising: We also offer banner advertising in various sizes and of course, our prices are flexible. you may choose to for the weekly rate or simply buy your desired number of impressions.
Technical Details And Pricing
Banner Size 300 X 250 pixels : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Banner Size 728 X 90 pixels: Appears on the top right Corner of the homepage and all pages on the site.
Large rectangle Banner Size (336x280) : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Small square (200x200) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Half page (300x600) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Portrait (300x1050) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Billboard (970x250) : Appears on the home page.
Submission of Materials : Banner ads can be in jpeg, jpg and gif format. All materials must be deliverd via electronic medium. All ads must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail in the ordered pixel dimensions unless otherwise noted.
For advertising offers, send an email with your name,company, website, country and advert or sponsored post you want to appear on our website to advert @ alexa. ng
Normally, we should respond within 48 hours.