At least 4 assailants killed after Mali tourist resort attack: minister

Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. PHOTO | MAMADOU TOURE BEHAN | AFP

Four assailants have been killed by security forces in Mali after an attack on a tourist resort popular with foreigners close to the capital Bamako, the country's security minister said late Sunday.

"We have recovered the bodies of two attackers who were killed", Salif Traore told journalists, adding that they were "searching for the bodies of two others", without specifying if any more were on the run.

"We were able to rescue nearly 36 guests and workers from the resort", including around 15 French nationals and a similar number of Malians.

The assault on the Kangaba Le Campement resort, an "ecolodge" run by a Frenchman, is the latest in a series of high-profile assaults by jihadists in north and west Africa targeting locals and tourists.

In March 2016, at least 14 civilians and two special forces troops were killed when gunmen stormed the Ivorian beach resort of Grand-Bassam, which was claimed by Al-Qaeda's North African affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).