MALI: Gunmen Attack Radisson Hotel In Mali Capital Bamako, Today 20th Nov 2015

Malian security forces have stormed the Radisson hotel, freeing at least 80 hostages after an attack by Islamists, a spokesman for the security ministry said. Automatic weapons fire was heard outside the 190-room hotel in the city centre, with the ministry spokesman saying at least three hostages had been killed.

Their identities were not yet known.

Earlier this evening, up to 10 gunmen stormed the Radisson in the Mali capital Bamako, taking 170 hostages and killing at least three.

“It’s all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor,” a security source said.

Security sources said the gunmen were “jihadists” who had entered the hotel compound in a car that had diplomatic plates. They shouted “Allahu Akbar” as they stormed the hotel, witneses said.

Malian soldiers, police and special forces were on the scene as a security perimeter was set up, along with members of the UN’s MINUSMA peacekeeping force in Mali and the French troops fighting jihadists in west Africa under Operation Barkhane.

The Rezidor Hotel Group, the US-based parent company of Radisson Blu, said two people were holding 170 people hostage.

The company said it was “aware of the hostage-taking that is ongoing at the property today, 20th November 2015. As per our information two persons have locked in 140 guests and 30 employees”.

It added in a statement: “Our safety and security teams and our corporate team are in constant contact with the local authorities in order offer any support possible to reinstate safety and security at the hotel.” The shooting at the Radisson follows a nearly 24-hour siege and hostage-taking at another hotel in August in the central Malian town of Sevare in which five UN workers were killed, along with four soldiers and four attackers.

Five people, including a French citizen and a Belgian, were also killed in an attack at a restaurant in Bamako in March in the first such incident in the capital.

Islamist groups have continued to wage attacks in Mali despite a June peace deal between former Tuareg rebels in the north of the country and rival pro-government armed groups.