21 dead in Mali hotel siege, hostage crisis over

Russian companies should recall all employees working in “high-risk zones,” the head of the State Duma's Committee for International Relations, Aleksey Pushkov, said on his Twitter account.

“Six of our citizens were killed during the hostage situation in Mali. It makes sense for Russian companies to temporarily bring back the majority of their employees stationed in high-risk zones.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry has confirmed that six Russian citizens were killed in the Radisson hotel in Bamako. All of the deceased Russians were employed at the Volga-Dnepr air freight company in the city of Ulyanovsk. Five bodies have already been identified, while the sixth one is severely disfigured. Earlier Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that six other Russian citizens survived the terrorist attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to his Malian counterpart, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, over the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital, Bamako.

“The inhumane crime committed in the Malian capital once again confirms that terrorism knows no borders and represents a real danger for the whole world. Its victims are people of many nationalities and religious beliefs, and resisting this threat is only possible on the basis of the widest international cooperation,” Putin said in a telegram.

Russian citizens were among those killed in the Mali hotel hostage-taking, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.

"As of the morning of November 21, we can confirm there were Russian citizens among those killed," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told RIA Novosti. "After we have conclusive information about their number and names, the Foreign Ministry will make a statement," she added.

The UN Security Council (UNSC) has condemned “the horrifying terrorist attack” in Mali in the strongest terms, according to a statement released late on Friday. The council also called on local authorities to investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice. The statement added that the UNSC supports Mali’s fight against terrorism.

Three senior Chinese executives were killed in the Mali hotel siege, state-owned China Railway Construction Corp has confirmed. The victims were identified as the general manager for the corporation’s international group, Zhou Tianxiang; a deputy general manager of the international group, Wang Xuanshang; and the general manager of the group’s West Africa division, Chang Xuehui.

The announcement came after China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that three Chinese nationals were killed during Friday’s attack in Mali. Four other Chinese nationals were rescued from the hostage situation. China has condemned the attack in the strongest terms.

US President Barack Obama called the attack in Mali "another awful reminder of the scourge of terrorism" on Friday, Reuters reported.

Speaking at a summit in Malaysia, the president said terrorists would not be permitted safe haven, and that the US is trying to determine how many Americans were at the hotel.

"It stiffens our resolve to meet these challenges," he said. "The United States will be relentless."

The US citizen killed in the attack has been identified as Anita Datar, a 41-year-old international development worker.