Two civilians killed in an assault this weekend on a popular tourist resort near the Mali capital, Bamako, worked for the European Union, the bloc's foreign affairs chief said Monday.
The security forces said the operations at Le Campement, outside the capital Bamako, are ongoing as witnesses reported the sound of gunfire, the Independent reported.
Two attackers were killed, but it was unclear then whether security forces killed them or whether they blew themselves up, mission spokesman Olivier Salgado said at the time.
A 10,000 United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali is tasked to stabilize the country, a former French colony, France intervened in 2013 to push back jihadists and allied Tuareg rebels who has taken over the country's desert in the north a year earlier.
Commandant Modibo Traore, a spokesman for the Malian special force, said there is believed to be between three ad four assailants.
Officials said two people had been killed, including a French-Gabonese citizen and another whose nationality was not yet known. One of the suspected attackers who was wounded in the attack managed to escape, the ministry added. In November 2015, gunmen took guests and staff hostage at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel here in a siege that left at least 20 people dead, including 14 foreigners. The militants often target Malian forces and peacekeepers, making this the deadliest mission in the world.
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Anti-terrorism forces from several countries arrived at the scene soon after the attack and surrounded the hotel.
Jihadis on Sunday afternoon attacked the hotel resort, yelling "Allah Akbar" and taking hostages.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mali has been fighting a jihadist insurgency for several years, with Islamist fighters active in the country's northern and central regions. In March 2015, five people died when militants hit a popular restaurant in the capital.
In recent years, the extremists have become even more brazen, attacking sites frequented by Westerners. Traore confirmed that at least a fourth had been killed by Monday morning.
France also has 4,000 soldiers in its Bakhane force in five countries - Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso - all of which are threatened by the terror threat across their porous borders.
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