Islamists Attack Hotel In Mali, Take 170 Hostage

The funny part is how many news outlets are using a headline which says “gunman“, rather than something like Islamists or Muslims. It’s like they’re trying to instead blame the guns. As Obama once said, words matter

Gunmen attack luxury hotel in Mali capital, 170 taken hostage

Islamist gunmen stormed a luxury hotel packed with foreigners in Mali’s capital Bamako on Friday, taking 170 hostages in a former French colony that has been battling rebels allied with al Qaeda for several years.

A senior security source said some of the hostages had been freed after being made to recite verses from the Koran. The French newspaper Le Monde quoted the Malian security ministry as saying at least three hostages had been killed.

The raid on the Radisson Blu hotel, which lies just west of the city center near government ministries and diplomatic offices in the former French colony, comes a week after Islamic State militants killed 129 people in Paris.

The identity of the Bamako gunmen, or the group to which they belong, is not known.

We do know one thing: they’re Islamists. The nation is chock full of them, as this State Department warning made quite clear.

The security source said as many as 10 gunmen had stormed the building, firing shots and shouting “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is great” in Arabic. The hotel’s head of security said two private security guards had been injured in the early stages of the attack, which began at 7 a.m. (0200 ET).

There are reports that 3 are dead.

(NY Times) Kassim Traoré, a Malian journalist who was in a building about 50 meters from the Radisson, said the attackers asked hostages to recite a declaration of Muslim faith as a way separating Muslims from non-Muslims.

Those who could recite the declaration, the Shahada, were allowed to leave the hotel. The Shabab, a Qaeda affiliate in East Africa, used a similar approach in the attack at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013.

What are they after? Most news articles mention there being lots of French tourists. Supporters of the Islamic State even have a new hashtag, #Mali_Is_Burning.

(Reuters again) In the wake of last week’s Paris attacks, an Islamic State militant in Syria told Reuters the organization viewed France’s military intervention in Mali as another reason to attack France and French interests.

I’m sure that when he wakes up President Massive Carbon Footprint will be Very Concerned. Also, we can rest assured that leftist apologists will alert us to Christians doing Something Bad a millennium ago. I’ve never understood their dhimmitude towards radical Islam, which is direct competition with Progressives for control of government and society.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

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