According to The Telegraph, security guards who witnessed the attack claim the terrorists behind Friday's assault were looking for Air France crew who were staying at the Radisson hotel.
Kasim Haidara was on duty when the gunmen stormed the hotel. He told The Telegraph the terrorists confronted one of his colleagues, Moussa Tiema-Konate, who was on the fifth floor at the time.
They demanded to know which floor the Air France staff were on.
Tiema-Konate deliberately told them the wrong floor, which they later realised and killed him for.
Air France has confirmed 12 crew were safely evacuated from the hotel, but has not commented on whether its staff were deliberately targeted.
"We are following several lines, but we won't be making a statement," a police source said.
"Everything points to two foreigners," the source said.
Pope Francis yesterday offered his condolences to the Malian people, in the form of a telegram from the Vatican's Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, to the Archbishop of Bamako, Jean Zerbo.
The Pope, who travels to Africa this week, said he was "appalled by this senseless violence" and hoped for "the conversion of hearts and the gift of peace", in the troubled country.
Security remained high at the major hotels in Bamako. It was tighter than usual at public buildings and banks.
On Saturday, a security source said the authorities were "actively pursuing" at least three people over the attack in the former French colony.
Gunmen went on the rampage in the hotel from the early morning on Friday, shooting in the corridors and taking 170 guests and staff hostage.
The assault, which ended when Malian and international troops stormed the building, left 19 people dead as well as two attackers, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has said.
The victims included six Russians, three Chinese, two Belgians, an American, an Israeli, a Senegalese and a member of the Malian special forces.
Mali will begin three days of mourning from today.
The attack appears to have had an immediate effect on the country's tourism industry with one major hotel saying it had received numerous cancellations, and that restaurant and business centre reservations were down.
Mali has been torn apart by unrest since the north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda in 2012.
The Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation launched the following year, but large swathes of Mali remain lawless.
France has more than 1000 troops in its former colony, a key battleground of the Barkhane counter-terror mission spanning five countries in Africa's restive Sahel region.
