Gunmen went on a shooting rampage at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday, seizing 170 guests and staff in an ongoing hostage-taking that has left at least three people dead.
Malian security forces are storming the hotel and at least a dozen hostages have been freed after the attack by "two or three" assailants, a spokesman for the security ministry told AFP.
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.
Security force personnel escort people fleeing from the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali, Friday. (AP)
Security sources said the gunmen were jihadists who had entered the hotel compound in a car that had diplomatic plates.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua said at least seven Chinese nationals were among the hostages, while Turkish Airlines said six of its staff were caught up in the attack.
"It's all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor," a security source told AFP earlier.
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.
In this image made available by Malikahere.com security personnel, right, attend close to the scene of an attack on a hotel in Bamako, Mali Friday. (AP)
An AFP journalist saw three freed hostages, including two women, who told him they had seen the body of a fair-skinned man lying on the floor of the hotel.
The Rezidor Hotel Group, the US-based parent company of Radisson Blu, said two people had taken a total of 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".
"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," Rezidor said in a statement.
The US embassy in Mali advised any American citizens in the country to shelter where they were, contact their families and monitor local media.
The Radisson attack 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.
In mid-2012 northern fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda. They supplanted Tuareg rebels and imposed a brutal interpretation of sharia law on the region, with Bamako reeling from a military coup.
The Islamists were largely ousted from towns by an ongoing French-led military operation launched in January 2013, but they have since launched sporadic attacks on security forces from desert hideouts.
Despite the peace deal, large swathes of Mali remain beyond the control of government and foreign forces.
In a recording authenticated by Malian authorities this week, a jihadist leader in Mali denounced the peace deal and called for further attacks against France, which is helping national forces fight extremists.
In the message released last month -- before this week's deadly jihadist attacks in Paris -- Ansar Dine leader Iyad Ag Ghaly endorsed the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine by Islamist extremists in the French capital in January.
The website of the Radisson Blu in Bamako says it offers "upscale lodging close to many government offices and business sites", serving as "one of the city's most popular conference venues" with "a stunning 508-square-metre ballroom and meeting rooms".
Radisson Blu, an upscale brand of the Radisson hotel chain, has more than 230 luxury hotels and resorts worldwide.
(AFP)
Unrest in Mali since 2012
A timeline of unrest in Mali since January 2012, after gunmen went on a shooting rampage at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in the capital Bamako taking hostages on Friday:
2012: Jihadists occupy north
- January 17: Tuareg fighters from The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and other rebels, some of whom recently returned from fighting for Moamer Kadhafi in Libya, launch an offensive to seize several northern towns.
- March 22: Mutinous Malian soldiers led by Captain Amadou Sanogo announce they have overthrown the Bamako government, saying it has failed to give the armed forces the means to defeat the rebellion.
- March 30-April 1: Tuareg and Islamist rebels allied to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) capture capitals of the three northern regions: Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu. Several armed groups take part in the offensive alongside the Tuareg MNLA, including the Islamist Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith), Al-Qaeda offshoot MUJAO (the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa), and members of AQIM. The Tuareg are quickly ousted by the Islamists, who dominate the northern region.
2013: France intervenes
- January 11: The French military launch Operation Serval to back the Malian army and drive back the Islamists, who are pushing south towards Bamako.
From January 14 jihadists flee the northern cities after France carries out bombings and commits ground troops.
- January 26-28: French-led troops recapture Gao and Timbuktu. On the 30th, French troops retake control of Kidal airport. The city is secured by some 1,800 Chadian troops who arrive several days later.
2014: Kidal falls into rebel hands
- May 21: MNLA militants claim control of Kidal and other northern towns after fighting with the army that kills several Malian soldiers.
On May 24 the Mali government signs a ceasefire deal with three rebel groups, including the Tuareg.
- July 13: Operation Serval is replaced by Operation Barkhane, a broader offensive against Islamist fighters that mobilises 3,000 French troops in five north African countries from early August.
2015: Bamako attack
- March 7: An attack on a bar and restaurant in the heart of Bamako, the first targeting westerners in the capital, leaves five dead -- three Malians, one French national and a Belgian.
Al-Murabitoun, a jihadist group run by leading Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, claims responsibility for the massacre.
2015: Jihadist attacks spread
- July 2: Militants kill six United Nations soldiers from Burkina Faso in an ambush southwest of Timbuktu on the road to Goundam. The attack is claimed by claimed by AQIM.
The UN force, MINUSMA, is charged with overseeing a peace accord signed on May 15 by the government, then on June 20 by Tuareg-led rebels.
- August 3: Around 10 soldiers are killed in an attack on their camp in the Timbuktu region, an assault claimed by AQIM.
- August 7: A total of 13 people die in a hostage siege at a hotel in central Mali that ends after government troops storm the building.
- November 20: Malian security forces storm the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako after gunmen seize 170 guests and staff in an ongoing hostage-taking that has left at least three people dead. (AFP)
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