Mali hotel attack: Authorities hunting 'three suspects' in connection with atrocity that left at least 20 dead

As many as 10 people are thought to have attacked the hotel in the country's capital Bamoka

Soldiers move out from the Radisson Blu hotel (Reuters)

Malian authorities are hunting three men believed to have been involved in the attack on a hotel that left at least 20 people dead.

The attack on the Radisson Blu in Mali’s capital Bamako on Friday morning, which left around 20 people dead after 10 gunmen held almost 170 people hostage, was claimed by a group affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Authorities are now believed to be hunting three men involved in the attack, although details about these men remain scarce, AFP reports.

It is thought that at least two attackers were killed in the shoot-out after Malian and French special forces stormed the international hotel but as many as 10 individuals were believed to have attacked the compound on Friday.

The attackers were reported to have burst into the hotel – popular with foreign tourists, diplomats and airline crews – screaming “Allah Akbar” and wielding grenades and AK47s.

"This evening, the death toll is heavy and terrible: 21 dead, two [assailants] amongst them, and seven wounded," President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told Al Jazeera on Friday evening.

It is the worst attack to strike the country this year following a long-running insurgency against Islamist militants to the north.

In the wake of the tragedy Mr Keita announced a 10-day state of emergency and said a three-day period of mourning would commence from Monday. The country’s flags will be flown at half-mast.

Among the dead is 41-year-old US aid worker Anita Ashok Datar and Belgian diplomat Geoffrey Dieudonné. Both China and Russian state media have reported that Chinese and Russian nationals are believed to have been killed.