Bamako, Mali – An Israeli national was among 19 people killed by Islamist militants who attacked a hotel in Mali, media said on Saturday.
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No confirmation was so far available from Israel’s foreign ministry.
Jihadist groups Al Mourabitoun and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, which ended when Malian commandos stormed the building and rescued 170 people, many of them foreigners.
Israel Radio said Shmuel Benalal, an education consultant and executive, was in Bamako advising the Mali government. Since Israel and Mali do not have diplomatic relations, the United States and Germany were involved in efforts to repatriate his body, the report said.
The Jerusalem-based Mandel School for Education Leadership, where Benalal was a faculty member, and the Telos Group Ltd, of which he was president, said he had worked with several international agencies including the World Bank, the European Union, USAID, UNICEF and UNESCO.
The foreign ministry said another Israeli national, whom it did not identify, had also been staying at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako but had escaped unharmed.
Friday’s assault came a week after militants killed 130 people in a spate of gun and bomb attacks in Paris claimed by Islamic State.
They always find some way to find themselves at any given place on the planet on any given time. Mind blowing.