Mali attacks: Bamako hotel hostage standoff over, two attackers killed
Gunmen shouting Islamic slogans attacked a luxury hotel full of foreigners in Mali's capital Bamako early on Friday morning, taking 170 people hostage, a senior security source and the hotel's operator said.
Gunmen shouting Islamic slogans attacked a luxury hotel full of foreigners in Mali's capital Bamako early on Friday morning, taking 170 people hostage.
The raid on the Radisson Blu hotel, which lies just west of the city centre near government ministries and diplomatic offices in the former French colony, comes a week after Islamic State (IS) militants killed 129 people in Paris.
Automatic weapons fire could be heard from outside the 190-room hotel, where security forces have set up a security cordon.
"It's all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor," a security source told AFP.
The shooting follows a nearly 24-hour siege and hostage-taking at another hotel in August in the central Malian town of Sevare.
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Gunmen shouting Islamic slogans attacked a luxury hotel full of foreigners in Mali's capital Bamako early on Friday morning, taking 170 people hostage, a senior security source and the hotel's operator said.
Islamist militant group al Mourabitoun said it was jointly responsible with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) for a hotel attack in Mali's capital on Friday in which at least 27 people died, Mauritania's Alakhbar news agency said. Al Mourabitoun is led by veteran Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who was reported killed in a U.S. air strike in June. AQIM later denied he had been killed.
Bamako hotel hostage standoff in Mali over, two attackers killed
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US Embassy in Bamako issues security message
SECURITY MESSAGE FROM THE US EMBASSY IN BAMAKO:The security incident at the Radisson Hotel is ongoing and all U.S....
Posted by Ambassade des Etats-Unis au Mali on Friday, November 20, 2015
Six U.S. citizens among those recovered in hotel - US military
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All 20 Indians in the hotel in Bamako have been safely evacuated. Our Ambassador in Mali has confirmed, says MEA
US State Department says US citizens might be present at Mali hotel, they are working to verify.
US military helping move civilians to safety in Mali, a US official said.
Some US military personnel in Mali were helping move civilians to secure locations amid an attack at a luxury hotel in Bamako, a US defence official on Friday. About 25 American military personnel were in Bamako when Islamist gunmen stormed the hotel, the official said, adding that there has not yet been a formal request for US military assistance.
US Defence official says no formal request yet for US military assistance in Mali hotel incident
Heavy gunfire heard from inside hotel in Mali capital where special forces seeking to free hostages - witness
US special forces assisting in Mali hotel rescue
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France's Hollande says everything being done to free Bamako hotel hostages.
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Malian special forces entered the Radisson Blu in the capital Bamako on Friday after Islamist gunmen attacked the luxury hotel and took hostages, a witness and a police source said. "They've penetrated inside the hotel. The operations are under way," the police source said.
Mali special forces are clearing the hotel floor by floor, sporadic gunfire being heard, says security sources, witness.
Eighty hostages freed in Mali hotel siege: claims local TV
Malian special forces entered the Radisson Blu in the capital Bamako on Friday after Islamist gunmen attacked the luxury hotel and took hostages, a witness and a police source said.
About 20 hostages freed from Mali hotel
The Indians work for a Dubai-based company and were residing in the hotel permanently: MEA
20 Indians inside the luxury hotel which is under seige of gunmen in Mali's capital Bamako, says MEA
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Three Turkish Airlines staff members escape from hotel under attack in Mali capital
Gunmen moving floor by floor, have arrived on seventh floor of Radisson Hotel in Mali capital, says senior security source.
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At least three hostages killed in Bamako hotel siege: minister.
Mali security forces evacuate around a dozen hostages from hotel: Ministry
Six Turkish Airlines staff in hotel- official
Six Turkish Airlines staff members are among those in hotel, a Turkish government official said.
"There are six Turkish Airlines personnel in the hotel," the official told. (Reuters)
According to Reuters, security source said that gunmen shouted "Allahu Akbar" as they stormed hotel.
According to reuters, a senior member of the hotel's security detail said two private security guards had been injured in the early stages of the attack.
The company that runs the hotel, Rezidor Group, said it understood that there were two gunmen.
"According to our information, two people are holding 140 clients and 30 employees," it said in a statement quoted by the BBC.
The Chinese state news agency Xinhua said several Chinese tourists were among those trapped inside the building.