Two men have been arrested in connection with the November 20, 2015 attack on people in a luxury hotel, the Radisson Blu in Bamako, Mali, which is in Africa. A reported 20 people were killed when terrorists stormed into the building with assault weapons and explosives. The suspects’ names have not been released, but the suspects are being held and questioned.
Officials have released the nationalities of the people who were killed in the siege. There was one American, Anita Datar. The others who were slain in the attack were from Mali, Russia, China and Belgium, according to the New York Times. Two of the gunmen were killed on the scene on the day of the attack, which lasted several hours.
There is a black ribbon on the website for the Radisson Blu hotel. The hotel is not accepting reservations as of November 28, 2015. The Radisson Blu, Bamako has 190 rooms and suites. It has a restaurant, bar, spa, and meeting space, including a large banquet room. Staff and guests at the hotel tried to flee and barricade themselves into rooms when they realized that the hotel was being attacked.
The hotel was hosting a diplomatic meeting at the time so there was a large number of guests in one of the meeting rooms when the attackers blindly opened fire inside the hotel, CNN reported. The hotel might have been targeted because of the peace talks that were being held there. There had been an ongoing battle to regain peace in Mali, but the Radisson hotel was considered to be a safe place.