Beijing: Three top Chinese officials of a state-owned company were among 21 people killed in the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali, triggering strong condemnation from President Xi Jinping on Saturday. Three executives of China Railway Construction Corporation Limited were killed in the Radisson Blu hotel siege in the Malian capital Bamako on Friday, the company said in a statement.
Xi condoled the families of the victims, and asked the government agencies to increase work to protect citizens abroad and called on the international community to do more to prevent violent acts. "China will strengthen cooperation with international society to resolutely fight violent terrorist activities that hurt innocent lives, to maintain world peace and tranquillity," China Central Television quoted Xi as saying.
Chinese leaders attached great importance to the incident, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said, adding the Ministry and Chinese Embassy in Mali had launched emergency-response mechanism immediately and conducted rescue operations.
More than 100 other hostages were rescued by Malian forces at the hotel in Bamako. The three top officials of China Railway Construction Corp, the country's biggest engineering contractor, were holding a meeting in the hotel when they were raked by gunfire, Shanghai media website "The Paper" reported.
The company identified the victims as Zhou Tianxiang, general manager for the corporation's international group; Wang Xuanshang, a deputy general manager of the international group; and Chang Xuehui, general manager of the group's West Africa division.
The Mali government and the international community have made great efforts for the rescue operations yet the attackers showed a total disregard for human conscience and committed brutal and inhumane crimes, Hong said, adding that four Chinese nationals were rescued from the hotel.
"The thugs ignored human conscience and still perpetrated brutal and inhuman crimes," he said, adding that the Chinese government expressed deep sorrow and sent heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. There were no more hostages held at Radisson Blu hotel, said Mali security minister Salif Traore, hours after gunmen stormed the hotel and held 170 people hostage.
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