The 20 Indians who were trapped in the early morning attack on a luxury hotel in Mali in West Africa were safely evacuated later in the day, even as the Americans and French forces launched an unprecedented rescue operation to free the hostages held captive by suspected Islamic State (IS) militants.
“Good news! All 20 Indians in the hotel in Bamako have been safely evacuated. Our Ambassador in Mali has confirmed,” tweeted Vikas Swarup, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
A week after the bloody attacks in Paris, gunmen attacked the Radisson Blu hotel located in the Malian capital of Bamako, taking 170 people hostage.
The 20 Indian nationals, who were captured, used to stay in the hotel as permanent guests. They are all employees of a Dubai-based firm. They were evacuated by a special joint team of UN, Mali and French soldiers. Eventually, over 80 people were rescued.
At the time of going to print, there were still 124 guests and 13 staff members who were trapped inside the hotel. However, three people were killed. US President Barack Obama said he was monitoring the situation. The US Department of Defence was also involved in the rescue operations. Obama, who was in Malaysia meeting Prime Minister Najib Razak, said the upcoming summit meetings – ASEAN-India Summit and East Asia Summit – will focus on tackling global terrorism by IS.
Whether the gunmen involved in the Mali attacks belonged to IS or not has not been confirmed yet. So far, no group has claimed responsibility.