Mali attack: 3 Chinese among 27 killed
November 21, 2015, 5:43 am

A policeman wounded in the rescue operation moves away from the siege at Radisson Blu hotel, Bamako, Mali, Nov. 20 [Xinhua]

“China expresses indignation at and strongly condemns this atrocity,”Hong said in a statement.

“The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese Embassy in Mali had launched emergency-response mechanism immediately and participated in rescue operations,” Hong added.

Beijing has praised the Mali government and the international community that “have made great efforts for the rescue operations”, the statement said.

Malian troops with US and French special forces stormed the hotel to re-secure the building.

France, with its long imperial history in Africa, has in recent years again launched armed interventions in former colonies like Mali, Central African Republic and Ivory Coast.

France has stationed 3,500 troops in northern Mali.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has also confirmed that four Chinese nationals were rescued.

The Chinese victims in Friday’s attack were executives of the China Railway Construction Corp, the company said in a statement.

China will continue to work with the international community to effectively safeguard the safety and legal rights of Chinese nationals and institutions abroad, he said.

More than 100 other hostages, many of them foreigners, including 20 Indians, were rescued by Malian forces at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako.

Earlier on Friday night Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said 19 people were killed and 7 were wounded in the attack, which has been claimed by jihadist group Al Mourabitoun and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The death toll now stands at 29, according to the UN peacekeepers who searched the hotel after the siege ended.

China overtook the United States as Africa’s biggest trade partner in 2009.

China has built roads, railways, stadiums and pipelines in the continent even as it gained access to Africa’s oil and minerals.

Historically, Sino-African ties have also been strengthened by the fact that Beijing backed African liberation movements fighting to throw off Western colonial rule.

TBP and Agencies