Mali arrests 21 after attack on EU military

Authorities in Mali have arrested 21 people in connection with an attack on the headquarters of European Union (EU) military training operation there, a senior police official said yesterday.

In the foiled gun attack on Bamako’s Nord-Sud Hotel on Monday, one assailant was killed and two others arrested. There were no reports of casualties at the hotel, where the EU Training Mission-Mali is based.

The EU mission is comprised of nearly 600 personnel deployed to train security forces as part of efforts to stabilise Mali after the defeat of Islamist militants who had seized the country’s desert north in 2012.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but Mali and neighboring West African countries have increasingly been the target of Islamists, some affiliated with al Qaeda.