A hotel siege by armed militants in a Malian hotel which left seventeen people dead has been claimed by a militant group with connections to Al Qaeda.
Sahara-based al Mourabitoun led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar has claimed responsibility for the attack has claimed responsibility for the attack on Byblos hotel according to an AFP report.
Al Jazeera quoted a statement from the militant group saying, “Elements of the al-Murabitoun group which follows al Qaeda, following a lengthy period of surveillance and diligence, managed to carry out the operation in the city of Sevare, and specifically on the Byblos Hotel, which was inhabited by Western nationals,”
Al Mourabitoun was founded in 2013 and has links to the radical leader, Amadou Koufa.