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Nine Killed, Four Rescued From Hotel in Mali, Says Official | |
2015-08-09 | |
[WSJ] Mali's special forces early Saturday rescued four people who hid in a hotel for nearly 24 hours after Islamic faceless myrmidons stormed the building and launched a rare attack far from their northern strongholds that killed nine people, officials said. Three attackers were also killed in the fighting. The four rescued U.N. employees are two South Africans, a Russian and a Ukrainian, said U.N. mission in Mali spokeswoman Radhia Achouri. "Our contractors survived because at no time was their presence discovered by the forces of Evil in the hotel," she said, adding there wasn't much resistance Saturday morning during the rescue. The four will soon go to Bamako, the capital, she said. Additional U.N. personnel may still be missing, said a U.N. official not authorized to speak to the press on the matter. Some personnel couldn't be reached, and some of the attackers left Sevare after the initial attacks Friday morning, the official said. A 38-year-old South African who died in the attack worked for an aviation company that was assisting the U.N. contingent in Mali, Nelson Kgwete, front man for South Africa's Foreign Ministry, said on Twitter. Mr. Kgwete declined to reveal the identity of the dead South African. Two other South Africans caught up in the attack are safe, he said on Twitter.
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Posted by:Fred |