Obama says Mali attacks 'stiffens our resolve'

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President Obama said 'barbarity' shown by Islamist extremists during Mali attacks only 'stiffened our resolve to meet these challenges'
Obama described Friday's raid and hostage incident in Mali as 'another awful reminder of the scourge of terrorism'
He also said U.S. and its allies would be relentless in fighting those targeting its citizens and would allow militants no safe haven
Obama spoke on sidelines during a regional summit with Asian nations in Malaysia on Saturday
After his speech, Obama visited a Kuala Lumpur educational center for refugees, many of them Rohingyas from Myanmar

Published: 21:46 EST, 20 November 2015 | Updated: 02:20 EST, 21 November 2015

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President Barack Obama said on Saturday that the deadly assault on a hotel in Mali is yet another reminder that the 'scourge of terrorism' threatens many nations.

Speaking during a regional summit in Malaysia, he said the 'barbarity' shown by Islamic extremists at the Radisson hotel in the capital of Bamako only stiffened 'our resolve to meet these challenges.'

He also said the United States and its allies would be relentless in fighting those targeting its citizens and would allow militants no safe haven.

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President Barack Obama said on Saturday that the deadly assault on a hotel in Mali is yet another reminder that the 'scourge of terrorism' threatens many nations

Speaking during regional summit with Asian nations in Malaysia, he said the 'barbarity' shown by Islamic extremists at the Radisson hotel in the capital of Bamako only stiffened 'our resolve to meet these challenges'

President Barack Obama is shown as gets a hug from a 16-year-old refugee from Myanmar after speaking about the refugee situation during a visit to the Dignity for Children Foundation in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday

Obama greets students while on a tour of the foundaiton, an education program for refugee and low-income children, in Kuala Lumpur

Obama visited the refugee center in Malaysia, casting a spotlight on the plight of those fleeing violence and persecution from Myanmar to Syria

'Once again, this barbarity only stiffens our resolve to meet this challenge,' he said.

'We will stand with the people of Mali as they work to rid their country of terrorists and strengthen their democracy. With allies and partners, the United States will be relentless.'

Friday's raid and hostage incident in Mali came exactly one week after attacks coordinated by the Islamic State group left 130 people dead across Paris.

Nineteen people were killed in Mali, including at least one American before Malian commandos stormed the building and rescued 170 people, many of them foreigners. Two militants were killed.

Family members said an American who was killed in a terror attack in a hotel in Mali lived in Maryland and worked for an international development agency.

Anita Datar, 41, of Takoma Park, a suburb of Washington, was among those killed in the attack Friday in Mali's capital, according to a statement from her family.

'We are devastated that Anita is gone,' the statement said.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Datar was senior manager for field programs at Palladium International Development, which has offices in Washington.

The profile says she worked on projects involving family planning and HIV. Datar previously served in the Peace Corp in Senegal.

The Washington Post reports that Datar has an elementary school-age son.

China Railway Construction Corp. identified three victims on Saturday 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.

A man who worked for a Belgian regional parliament was also among the dead, the assembly said. France's Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he was not aware of any French nationals killed.

Asian eaders join hands during the ASEAN convention signing against human trafficking at the 27th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Kuala Lumpur

On Saturday, Obama said the U.S. is working to account for Americans who may have been at the hotel

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (pictured) called on world leaders to confront Islamist extremism, saying its 'barbaric acts' do not represent any race or religion, as he opened a regional summit overshadowed by a spate of attacks around the globe

Malaysian police patrol on horses in front of the Petronas towers at the venue of the 27th ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on Saturday

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced the death toll and said seven people were wounded in the attack, which has been claimed by jihadist group Al Mourabitoun and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

'Tonight the death toll is heavy,' Keita said on state television, declaring a ten-day state of emergency and three days of national mourning.

Obama said the U.S. is working to account for Americans who may have been at the hotel.

He also extended condolences to families of the victims, and thanked the security forces who responded.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called on world leaders to confront Islamist extremism, saying its 'barbaric acts' do not represent any race or religion, as he opened a regional summit overshadowed by a spate of attacks around the globe.

'The perpetrators of these cowardly and barbaric acts do not represent any race, religion or creed, nor should we allow them to claim to do so,' Razak said in his opening speech at the ASEAN summit.

'They are terrorists and should be confronted as such, with the full force of the law.'

A Malian police officer stands guard in front of the Radisson hotel in Bamako, Mali on Friday. The raid and hostage incident in Mali came exactly one week after attacks coordinated by the Islamic State group left 130 people dead across Paris

Malian security forces evacuate a man from an area surrounding the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako. Obama said: 'We will stand with the people of Mali as they work to rid their country of terrorists and strengthen their democracy. With allies and partners, the United States will be relentless'

The summit of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, followed by a series of nine other regional meetings, is taking place in Malaysia's main city in the backdrop of several extremist attacks around the globe, some of which were claimed by the Islamic State group.

The attacks included the bombings and assaults in Paris and Beirut, the bombing of a Russian airliner in Egypt and the hostage taking in Bamako, Mali, on Friday.

Closer to home, a Malaysian hostage was killed by an Islamic militant group in the southern Philippines.

Malaysia has deployed extraordinary security measures around Kuala Lumpur as leaders from 18 countries, including U.S. President Barack Obama, arrived for a pair of weekend summits.

Most of the leaders arrived from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila.

Both the APEC meeting and the ASEAN summit typically focus on economic issues but have been overshadowed by the terrorist attacks.

Najib said he had intended to open the summit to talk about an economic community that the 10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations intends to launch in a region of 622 million people with a combined economic output of $2.5 trillion.

'The perpetrators of these cowardly and barbaric acts do not represent any race, religion or creed, nor should we allow them to claim to do so,' Razak said in his opening speech at the ASEAN summit

Obama extended condolences to families of the victims, and thanked the security forces who responded

Razak (center L) and U.S. President Barack Obama speak to reporters after their bilateral meeting before the start of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday

'But the events of recent days and weeks have cast a shadow over us all,' he said.

He said predominantly Islamic countries such as Malaysia have a duty to expose as lies the 'ideology propagated by these extremists that is the cause of this sadistic violence.

Malaysia has announced it is setting up a 'counter-terrrorism' messaging center using social media and other messaging tools.

In a veiled swipe at China, which is also attending the meetings in Malaysia, Obama told the ASEAN business executives the United States was working with Southeast Asian allies to preserve maritime security and freedom of navigation.

'The United States is working... to uphold the freedom of navigation and ensure disputes in the region are resolved peacefully,' he said.

Beijing has overlapping claims with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei in the South China Sea, through which $5trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year.

China has been transforming seven reefs in the Spratly archipelago into artificial islands and building three airfields and other facilities on some of them, prompting concern in Washington and the region that China is extending its military reach deep into maritime Southeast Asia.

China has said it does not want the South China Sea issue to be the focus of the meetings in Kuala Lumpur.

Obama said his signature free trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), will bind the United States even closer to some of our strongest allies in Asia'.

'Our alliances are the foundation for our security which becomes the foundation for our prosperity, which allows us to invest in the source of our strength, including our alliances,' he told the ASEAN business executives.

Obama is pictured on Friday as he answers a question during a town hall with Young Southeast Asia Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) at Taylor's University in Kuala Lumpur

Obama and his counterparts from China, India, Japan and elsewhere are meeting in Kuala Lumpur for two days of talks hosted by the 10-country ASEAN

The Asia-Pacific countries in the TPP include Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, New Zealand and Australia, all of whom are attending the Malaysia meetings.

After his speech, Obama visited a Kuala Lumpur educational center for refugees, many of them Rohingyas from Myanmar, to help focus attention, he said, on 'an unprecedented number of refugees' across the world.

Speaking of the children he met, he said 'that's the face of not only of children from Myanmar, that's the face of Syrian children and Iraqi children.'

Alluding to Republican critics who are trying to block the flow of Syrian refugees to the United States, he said: 'The notion that somehow we would be fearful of them, that the politics would somehow lead us to turn our sights away from their plight' was not in keeping with American values.

The U.N. Security Council condemned 'the horrifying terrorist attack' in Mali's capital in the strongest terms and expressed support to Malian authorities in their fight against terrorist groups.

The council issued a statement late Friday calling on the authorities to swiftly investigate the attack and bring the perpetrators to justice.

The U.N.'s most powerful body also 'strongly condemned any action that may undermine the peace process in Mali.'

The council reaffirmed the need to combat threats to international peace and security 'caused by terrorist acts.'