Mali: Hostage has ended with at least 18 dead

BAMAKO — The Mali department of safety has announced the end of the hostage which has lasted for over three hours, saying that at least 18 to 20 died during the attack.
  

Supporters of al Qaeda affiliated group claim responsibility for today's Mali hotel attack.

French president Hollande has called on French citizens residing in Mali to contact French Embassy in the country for protection.


Eighty out of 153 people taken hostage by Islamic extremists at a luxury hotel in Mali have now been freed after an operation by special forces, the state broadcaster has said.


Earlier a police source said: "They've penetrated inside the hotel. The operations are under way."

Armed security men sealed of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali gunmen takes refugees at the 7th floor of the 5star hotel.

Shooting has been going on at the Radisson hotel in capital Bamako .
A security source says gunmen have attacked the hotel and are believed to have taken hostages.

U.N. spokesman said Mali hotel attackers arrived in vehicles with diplomatic plates

Attackers started a shooting rampage inside the Radisson Blu Hotel in the centre of the capital, security sources said.

"It is all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor," an unnamed security source said.

Reports said that security forces had established a security perimeter around the hotel and that the hotel was "completely sealed off".

The identity of the attackers and their motives are not yet known.
Automatic weapon fire could be heard from outside the 190-room hotel, where security forces set up a security cordon.

The shooting follows a 24-hour siege and hostage-taking situation at another hotel in August in the central Malian town of Sevare.



Four soldiers, five UN workers, and four attackers were killed in that incident.

More details coming...