 "Barack Obama")
US President Barack Obama vowed terrorists won't have a safe haven as he condemned Friday's attack in Mali, while Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called for new solutions to tackle religious extremism, saying military force alone won't be enough.
"We'll continue to root out terrorist networks," Obama said in a speech in Kuala Lumpur Saturday. "We will not allow these killers to have a safe haven."
Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen entered the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital, Bamako, on Friday, firing weapons and trapping as many as 170 people inside. About 20 civilians and two gunmen were killed, the army said.
"Like the heinous attacks we saw in Paris - and attacks we see all too often elsewhere - this is another awful reminder that the scourge of terrorism threatens so many of our nations," Obama said. "And once again, this barbarity only stiffens our resolve to meet this challenge."
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris last week that killed about 130 people and for the explosion of the Russian airliner with 224 people on board over Egypt last month. French jets last Sunday dropped bombs and struck targets including an Islamic State command base in Raqqa, Syria.
The US has been working with Malaysia on countering terrorism, and the Southeast Asian nation has arrested dozens of suspects who authorities said were plotting attacks in the country or linked to Islamic State. Some have been arrested upon their return from Syria.
"The perpetrators of these cowardly and barbaric acts do not represent any race, religion or creed, nor should we allow them to claim to do so,"Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said referring to terror attacks around the world in recent weeks including the beheading of a Malaysian hostage in southern Philippines.
