Tour guide Ali Maiga was with the tourists during Friday’s attack at a Timbuktu restaurant and gave the same list of nationalities. A witness and an official said gunmen burst into the restaurant, grabbed four tourists dining there and executed one when he refused to climb into their truck.
Officials on Saturday evacuated foreigners from Timbuktu to the capital, said a man who owns a hotel in Bamako where the tourists previously stayed. He asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ward Bezemer confirmed that one Dutch man was among those kidnapped.
“In the interests of the people involved, we never comment on these cases,” Bezemer told The Associated Press.
The kidnapping comes ahead of an official visit by Mali’s president to the Netherlands next week.
Twitter