Mali hotel attack suspects hunted

Investigators in Mali are hunting at least three people suspected of links to the jihadist siege at a luxury hotel in the capital that left at least 19 people dead.

A Malian military source had said earlier there were at least 21 dead, while at least "three terrorists had been killed or blown themselves up."

The government has declared a state of emergency after the bloody nine-hour hostage-taking at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako on Friday, exactly a week after the Paris massacre.

The Al-Murabitoun group, an Al-Qaeda affiliate led by notorious one-eyed Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, nicknamed the "Uncatchable" or "Mr Marlboro", claimed the attack.

Gunmen went on the rampage through the hotel from the early morning, shooting in the corridors and taking 170 guests and staff hostage, many of them foreigners.

The assault, which ended when Malian and international troops stormed the hotel, left 19 people dead as well as two attackers, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said on Saturday.

The victims included several Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American and a Senegalese.

Authorities are now "actively pursuing" at least three people over the attack in the former French colony, one security source told AFP.