Volga-Dnepr: six employees killed in Bamako

Six employees of Russian regional airline Volga-Dnepr were killed in Friday’s attack on a hotel in Mali, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday, confirming earlier media reports.

“Among the many foreigners captured as hostages there were citizens of Russia – employees of the airline Volga-Dnepr,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

“Among those killed – six citizens of our country, who together with 13 citizens of other states were shot by the militants in the restaurant literally in the first moments of the terrorist attack on the hotel”.

Zakharova said six other Russians had been rescued.

Earlier on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said global cooperation was need to confront terrorism in the wake of the attack.

Friday’s assault on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako came a week after militants killed 130 people in a spate of gun and bomb attacks in Paris claimed by Islamic State.

It also comes three weeks after the downing of a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai peninsular that killed 224 people, which Russian officials say was caused by a bomb.

Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for that attack, the most deadly against Russian citizens for over a decade.