Mali hotel attack: '170 hostages seized' in Bamako
Gunmen have launched an attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in the centre of Mali's capital, Bamako. The hotel's owners said that two people had locked in 140 guests and 30 employees, the AFP news agency reports its statement as saying.
Gunmen have launched an attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in the centre of Mali's capital, Bamako.
The hotel's owners said that two people had locked in 140 guests and 30 employees, the AFP news agency reports its statement as saying.
Police have surrounded the hotel, which the gunmen entered shooting, and shouting "God is great!" in Arabic, a security source told Reuters.
A BBC reporter says the US-owned hotel is popular with expats working in Mali.
In August, suspected Islamist gunmen killed 13 people, including five UN workers, during a hostage siege at a hotel in the central Malian town of Sevare.
France, the former colonial power in Mali, intervened in the country in January 2013 when al-Qaeda-linked militants threatened to march on Bamako after taking control of the north of the country.
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