Summary
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday he wanted global cooperation to combat "terrorism" in the wake of a militant attack on a luxury hotel in Mali that killed 27 people including six Russians.
Friday's assault came a week after militants killed 130 people in gun and bomb attacks in Paris claimed by ISIS, and three weeks after a Russian airliner was downed over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula by what Moscow and Western governments say was a bomb, killing 224 all people aboard.
Extremist groups Al Mourabitoun and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the attack, which ended when Malian commandos stormed the building and rescued 170 people, many of them foreigners.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said two militants were killed in the commando operation.
France has stationed 3,500 troops in northern Mali to try to restore stability after a rebellion in 2012 by ethnic Tuaregs that was later hijacked by extremists linked to Al-Qaeda.
Al Mourabitoun has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks, including an assault on a hotel in the town of Sevare, 600 km (375 miles) northeast of Bamako, in August in which 17 people including five U.N. staff were killed.
...