Photos show suspects in Mali attack

Photos of a man and a woman suspected of planning the Mali hotel attack that killed 19 have been published.

Mali has stepped up the hunt for suspects wanted over the fatal jihadist siege at a luxury hotel. (AAP) Source: AAP

Authorities in Mali have published the photographs of a man and a woman they said helped plan an attack on a luxury hotel in which 19 people and two gunmen were killed.

It is the first time the authorities have said they were seeking accomplices to the November 20 attack by Islamist militants on the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital Bamako on Friday that ended when Malian commandos stormed the building.

"They are suspects. People suspected of having links with the two terrorists (who attacked the hotel)," said a source close to the security ministry.

Chief prosecutor Boubacar Sidiki Samake, who is leading the investigation, said authorities had recovered items that will help them to learn more about how the attack was planned.

"We recovered telephones on them (the two bodies) and machine pistols," he said on state radio.

The Massina Liberation Front, which has been blamed for previous violence in southern Mali, on Sunday became the third group to claim responsibility for the attack.

Jihadist group Al Mourabitoun and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) already had claimed responsibility.