The official said 12 bodies were found in the basement of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, with another 15 bodies discovered on the second floor.
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“The Rezidor Hotel Group…is aware of the hostage-taking that is ongoing at the property today, 20th November 2015”, the company said in a statement.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced the death toll and said seven people were wounded in the attack, which has been claimed by jihadist group Al Mourabitoun and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Security forces are now hunting “more than three” suspects who may also have been involved.
The Islamist militants killed 19 people in the attack before Malian commandos stormed the building and rescued 170 people, many of them foreigners.
Special forces spent several hours chasing the attackers on the upper floors of the hotel.
The Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation launched the following year, but large swathes of Mali remain lawless and prone to attacks.
“They were firing inside the hotel, in the corridors”, Diabate said.
One United States citizen and three Chinese nationals have so far been identified as among those killed.
Mali’s presidency has tweeted (in French) thanking the security forces and friendly countries for their support in responding to the attacks.
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The attack follows a hotel siege in August in the central Mali town of Sevare in which five United Nations workers were killed along with four soldiers and four attackers.
