Special agents are holding three people suspected of helping armed jihadists launch an attack on a nightclub in Mali's capital in which five people died, government sources said today.
The arrests came 12 days after assailants with grenades and automatic rifles struck La Terrasse, a favoured nightspot among Westerners in Bamako, killing three Malians, a Frenchman and a Belgian.
"Two major links in the organisation of the deadly attack on the restaurant-bar La Terrasse were arrested on Wednesday and during the night by the special forces of Mali's intelligence agency," a government source said, adding that a third suspect had also been detained.
A second government source and an investigator confirmed the first arrests, which came less than a week after security agents shot dead a man suspected of playing a role in the raid and found an arsenal they linked to the attack.
Eight people, including two Swiss nationals, were wounded in the attack, which marked the first time armed Islamists had targeted Westerners in the city of 1.8 million people.
The second government source said one of those arrested, who works for a private transport company, was the "principal liaison agent" in the capital with the jihadists based in Mali's northern desert.
Responsibility for the raid has been claimed by Al-Murabitoun, a jihadist group led by one-eyed Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who is wanted for terrorist activities in several countries.
