Mali Hotel Attacks: Amanda Murray and Olivia Leonard

Source:

Article: http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/21/africa/mali-hotel-attack/index.html

Image: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/11/20/456758931/radisson-hotel-in-mali-attacked-gunmen-take-170-hostages

Author:

 Faith Karimi and Erin Burnett

Summary:

On Friday, November 20th, there were gunman who raided a Malian hotel called  Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako and shot bullets rapidly killing everything that moved. During the attack, they did not say a word except “Allahu akbar”, which means “God is Great” in Arabic. There was at least 21 people killed out of the 170 hostages (About 140 guests and 30 employees were there). During the attacks, the hotel was holding delegations attending peace talks. Islamist militant group Al Mourabitoun claimed it started the attack together with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. It said the attack was retaliation for government aggression in northern Mali. The group also demanded the release of prisoners in France. Algerian jihadist and leader of the group, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, may be behind the attack because Mokhtar Belmokhtar was targeted in US airstrike against Libya. There was a diplomats' meetings that may be a likely reason why the hotel was targeted. Mali has declared a 10 day state emergency and a 3 day mourning in which the flags will be flown at half mast. In the end, two of the attackers (total or 2 or 3) died by being killed by security forces or being blown up by themselves.

Who:

Two to three gunman from an Islamic group who killed hotel guests.

What:

There were gunman who raided a Malian hotel called Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako and shot bullets rapidly killing everything that moved. During the attack, they did not say a word except “Allahu akbar”, which means “God is Great” in Arabic. There was at least 21 people killed out of the 170 hostages (About 140 guests and 30 employees were there).

Where:

In a Malian hotel called Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako.

When:

Friday, November 20th

Why: 

There were a variety of reasons of why this hotel was attacked. One reason is because of the Islamist militant group, and Al Mourabitoun claimed it started the attack together with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. It said the attack was retaliation for government aggression in northern Mali. The group also demanded the release of prisoners in France. The other reason is because of the Algerian jihadist and leader of the group, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, may be behind the attack because Mokhtar Belmokhtar was targeted in US airstrike against Libya. The last was because there was a diplomats' meetings that was occurring and may be a likely reason why the hotel was targeted.

Bias:

We believe that the article we read was a little bit biased. When talking about who had died in this incident, they mostly focused on the one American citizen, giving her a paragraph of information and words from Hillary Clinton while the other deaths were just stated. Otherwise, it was a pretty general article giving us the facts.

Democratic Values:

Life = This act of violence goes against the value of life, these innocent people were staying in a hotel where they are supposed to feel safe yet were invaded and even killed. Justice =The attackers were most likely attacking this particular hotel to receive justice or revenge because there were peace talks being held there at that time.