 "Mali, Attack, Hostage, Bamako")
Mali plans to boost security measures after al-Qaeda-linked gunmen killed at least 20 people at a luxury hotel in the capital, highlighting risks in a country facing an Islamist rebellion.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and his cabinet at an extraordinary meeting late Friday vowed to reinforce security, state television reported, without providing more details. They met after Malian troops ended an about 10-hour siege by gunmen at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako. At least two of the gunmen also died. The president declared a nationwide state of emergency, China's Xinhua News Agency reported, without saying where it got the information.
The attack began on Friday morning when gunmen burst into the lobby spraying gunfire. Hours later, troops stormed the hotel and moved room to room evacuating guests, while French and US security forces aided the operation.
As many as 170 people had been trapped inside the hotel and at least 105 of them were rescued, according to state television. One of those killed was an American citizen, the US State Department said without providing additional details.
US President Barack Obama, in speech in Kuala Lumpur, extended his "deepest condolences" to the families of those killed in Mali.
"We're still working to account for Americans'' who were at the hotel, Obama said.
China expressed condolences to the victims and families of those who died in the attack, including three Chinese citizens, Hong Lei, a foreign ministry spokesman, said on a statement on the ministry's website.
China will continue to strengthen cooperation with the international community and will safeguard the safety and legal rights of its citizens and companies abroad, according to the statement.
The Mali raid came a week after Islamic State militants killed 129 people in a series of shootings and explosions in Paris, the worst atrocity in Europe in almost a decade. Mali is a former French colony.
Mali was plunged into violence after a military coup in March 2012 left a power vacuum that allowed Islamist militants to join with separatists and seize the north of the country. While French forces pushed the militants out of most of those strongholds in 2013, the government is struggling to regain authority there. At least 40 UN peace keepers have been killed in hit-and-run attacks in the north since the mission began two years ago, making it the most deadly peacekeeping operation globally.
Al-Qaeda in Maghreb and the militant Morabetoun group claimed joint responsibility for Friday's attack.
