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![A number of Al-Qaeda groups worked together in the attack which killed at least 19 foreigners in Bamako, Mali [Xinhua]](http://thebricspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/249321748_8-e1448191737200.jpg)
A number of Al-Qaeda groups worked together in the attack which killed at least 19 foreigners in Bamako, Mali [Xinhua]
A New York Times report on Sunday indicated that the Al Mourabitoun Islamist extremist group had been working under the guidance of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian operative for Al-Qaeda.
Recent violence, and ISIL penetration, in post-Qaddafi Libya has lead to instability in some regions in Sub-Saharan Africa, creating vacuums that have been usurped by militias, some of which have ties to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
The Al-Mourabitoun terrorist group, which was reported to have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS) in May 2015, appears to have reached out to rival Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (AQIM) and another group, the Saharan Emirate of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the report said.
ISIL, originally an offshoot of Al-Qaeda, has since 2014 targeted groups affiliated with the later in Syria.
The two are now vying for power and position in the Middle East and North Africa.
A number of extremist groups, such as Boko Haram and Afghanistan groups in Helmand and Farah provinces, have pledged allegiance to ISIL in the past year.
Fatalities identified
More than 100 other hostages, many of them foreigners, including 20 Indians, were rescued by French and Malian forces on Friday night.
The death toll now stands at 29 people (10 of whom are believe to be the attackers), according to the UN peacekeepers who searched the hotel after the siege ended.
Late on Saturday, the dead were identified as three Chinese business officials, an Israeli – as yet unnamed, two Belgians and an American charity worker.
Moscow says that six Russians working at an international transportation company are among the dead.
On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the bloody Radisson Blu siege is a reminder that the world needs to unitedly fight terror.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon called on Russia and the US to work together to eradicate ISIL just hours after the Security Council passed a French draft resolution urging member nations to cooperate on rooting out Islamist extremism.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies
