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MALI, Nov 23 2015 – Security guards at the Mali hotel where 19 people were killed by gunmen say they were looking for Air France crew who were staying there.
Kasim Haidara, who was on duty at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako during the terrorist attack, said the group confronted a colleague and demanded to know which floor the Air France crew were staying on.
The guard then deliberately directed them to the wrong floor, reports the Telegraph, for which he was later shot dead by the terrorists.
His claims suggested the group was targeting French citizens because of the country’s two-year long military campaign against Islamists in northern Mali.
Air France decided to suspend its twice daily flights from Paris to Bamako shortly after the attack.
An American public health worker, six Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians and an Israeli national were among those who died in the attack.
The six Russians were all employees of the Volga-Dnepr airline, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Many of those killed are reported to have been shot dead while trying to escape the attackers in a lift.
Other guests were held hostage including six members of staff from Turkish Airlines but were later freed when special forces stormed the hotel.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its offshoot al-Murabitoun have both said they were behind the incident but it has not been confirmed.
The attack appears to have been well-planned, at the end of the guard’s nightshift when they had put weapons down, reports the Telegraph.
Some reports suggest that only two attackers entered the hotel while witnesses have said there were up to 13.
Malian officials say they are looking for ‘at least’ three suspects.
The 190-room hotel in the centre of Mali’s capital, Bamako, is popular with expats, business people and air crews.
