IMAN Chairman condemns terrorist attacks in Mali
星期日, 8 三月 2015
Gunman Kills Five in Restaurant in Mali
NEW YORK TIMES
A masked gunman opened fire on a restaurant in Mali’s capital, Bamako, early Saturday morning, killing at least two Europeans — a Frenchman and a Belgian — and three Malians.
The gunman sprayed the restaurant, La Terrasse, with bullets, firing indiscriminately, according to residents and officials. A ranking security official said two people had been arrested in connection with the attack.
“This was a terrorist attack. It’s absolutely clear,” said the security official, an army officer who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The attack took place in Hippodrome, a neighborhood of the capital that contains a number of bars and restaurants frequented by foreigners.
The Mauritanian news website Al-Akhbar said Saturday that Al Mourabitoun, a group formed by extremists who split off from Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack, Reuters reported. A video sent to the website by the group said the attack was in reprisal for the killing of Ahmed al-Tilemsi, one of the group’s senior commanders, by French troops in December, Reuters said. The group’s leaders include Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former commander of the regional Qaeda branch.
From one moment to the next, a festive Friday night at La Terrasse, crowded with United Nations workers and other Europeans, turned into a pandemonium of bullets, blood, and fear, witnesses said. A lone gunman burst into the restaurant, witnesses said, and began firing at tables where Europeans were seated, at point-blank range.
“We were laughing, talking. Suddenly these people came inside,” said a Swedish health worker, Reidun Runften, who had been dancing at the bar. “It was boom, boom, boom,” she said. “I was very close to the bar, and we just went under there. We didn’t move because they were shooting a lot,” she said.
When she looked up, a Malian woman — the girlfriend of a European sitting next to her — was lying on the floor, blood coming from her neck, Ms. Runften said.
While Qaeda-linked terrorists took over northern Mali three years ago, only to be driven out by French and Chadian forces a year later, the distant capital has been spared such attacks. Bamako has been considered a terrorist-free zone, though it has been the scene of considerable political and civil unrest over the last three years, with a military coup in 2012 and frequent score-settling among army factions.
Witnesses said the gunman in Saturday’s attack killed a police officer on his way out the door of La Terrasse, then climbed into a car driven by an accomplice. Some reports on Malian websites said the attackers also hurled grenades. At Gabriel Touré Hospital, an official said numerous people had been wounded.
The assault in the capital is a rare occurrence in a region where Islamist militant attacks have generally been confined to the peripheries. The assault is likely to change the calculus, and it recalled the kidnapping in 2011 of two Frenchmen from a restaurant in Niamey, the capital of Niger. But these episodes are rare in West African capitals where security forces are concentrated and foreigners generally do not feel the terrorist menace.
“Things are not good in the capital today,” said Moctar Mariko, head of the Malian Human Rights League, in an interview from Bamako. “It’s the first time we’ve experienced this kind of terrorist attack in Bamako.”
“To go into the streets with Kalashnikovs and grenades, this is unheard-of,” he added. “They didn’t have particular targets, but they knew it was a restaurant frequented by Europeans and Americans. They shot at everything that moved.”
The United Nations, which still has a large peacekeeping operation in Mali, said that two United Nations anti-mine experts had been wounded in the attack; the European Union said the Belgian who was killed was a security official with its delegation.
Mali’s government is still working to get the north’s numerous armed factions, some of them allied with Islamist militants, to give final approval to a peace settlement signed a week ago in Algiers. The northern conflict has barely affected the capital up until now though.
“It seems that Bamako has been infiltrated by the Islamists, by terrorist groups.” Mr. Mariko said. “We are not used to this sort of barbarism.”
At least three killed in north Mali rocket attack: U.N
REUTERS
Unknown attackers fired dozens of rockets towards a U.N. base on the outskirts of the north Malian town of Kidal early on Sunday, killing at least three people, the United Nations said.
The incident is the third attack in the West African country this weekend, pointing to ongoing unrest two years after France helped retake the desert north from al Qaeda-linked militants.
"This morning at 0540 GMT (0140 DST), the MINUSMA (U.N.'s Mali peacekeeping force) compound in Kidal was the target of more than 30 rockets and shells as part of a sophisticated attack," the U.N. said in a statement. One U.N. peacekeeper was killed and eight others were injured, the statement added.
"MINUSMA is outraged at the cowardice of attackers who also targeted innocent civilians."
Security sources said that U.N. and French troops who share the base returned fire and sent air support. The peacekeeper killed was Chadian, they said, adding that calm had been restored.
A French army spokesman could not be reached for immediate comment.
At least one shell fell on a nearby camp for Tuareg and Arab nomads, killing two children and injuring several others, a witness and residents said.
A photo sent by the witness and seen by Reuters showed one of the dead children lying on a blanket in the sand.
"We were sleeping when the rockets fell. Three rockets landed near us and the third fell just outside my house. Two are dead and three injured seriously, including my wife," said resident Rhissa Ag.
France launched a U.N.-backed military intervention in its former colony in January 2013 to drive Islamic militants from towns in northern Mali which they had seized a year earlier.
The militants were scattered but continue to mount an insurgency against the Malian army and U.N. troops based there.
A Sahara-based Islamist group on Saturday claimed responsibility for a rare attack in Mali's southern capital Bamako that killed five people, including two foreigners.
The group al-Mourabitoun has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on U.N. peacekeepers. A Reuters reporter in the capital said that several nearby restaurants popular with Westerners had closed in Bamako following the incident.
Separately, a crowd in the central Malian town of Gao lynched two men on Saturday they accused of attempting to launch a grenade attack against a police post, a witness said.
The Tuareg stronghold of Kidal has been targeted before by rockets suspected to have been fired by Islamists, although the intensity of Sunday's attack was unusual.
The attack comes as the United Nations is seeking to clinch a peace deal with Tuareg-led separatists for the desert north.
A week ago, Mali's government signed a peace proposal although the separatists asked for more time to consult with their populations, including residents of Kidal.
Condemning the attack, IMAN Chairman, Ribal Al-Assad said:
"I am horrified to hear of these recent attacks in Bamako and Northern Mali.
These were cowardly and heinous acts perpetuated by people who have no concept of the sanctity of life.
As I have said on repeated occasions, if action is not taken by the international community to unite against Islamic extremism then we will only see an increase in these types of attacks.
We need a truly global approach to confront this global threat, the international community must support the Malian government in stamping out these terrorists groups once and for all."
