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 militants killed 129 people in Paris.
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Earlier, the Rezidor Hotel Group, the US-based parent company of Radisson Blu, said there were a total of 170 hostages – 140 guests and 30 employees.
Automatic gunfire and at least one explosion were heard coming from the 190-room Radisson Blu hotel in the city’s northwestern Hamdallaye neighborhood.
The gunmen fired as they entered the hotel, and the gunshots went on for several minutes, said witness Amadou Keita, who works at a nearby cultural center.
“It’s all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor”, one security source told AFP.
French President Francois Hollande says France is ready to help Mali with all means necessary in the wake of the hotel attack in the capital, Bamako.
The Radisson Blu Hotel is about 15 minutes away from the Bamako Senou worldwide Airport.
U.S. State Dept. spokesman John Kirby says Americans “might be present at the hotel”, and that the U.S. Embassy in Bamako is working to verify this. “The security guard told me the shooters were so quick that he doesn’t even know how many came in”, he told Al Jazeera.
A statement from operator Rezidor on its website said: “Our safety and security teams and our corporate team are in constant contact with the local authorities in order to offer any support possible to reinstate safety and security at the hotel…we continue to monitor the situation closely”.
Five Turkish Airlines personnel were among the freed hostages, Turkey’s state-run news agency said.
They are asking that staff and all USA citizens shelter in place.
In April 2012 the north of Mali, an area known as Azawad, was seized by al-Qaeda-linked fighters.
In March, masked gunmen shot up a Bamako restaurant that was popular with foreigners, killing five people.
They have since torn through the surrounding area, destroying Muslim shrines and imposing Sharia law.
Members of the UN’s MINUSMA peacekeeping force in Mali were on the scene.
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The Macina Liberation Front (MCF) emerged in central Mali recently and has claimed responsiblity for the attack in August in Sevare that killed 13 people. United Nations deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said a few United Nations “quick-reaction forces” deployed to the hotel and are supporting Malian and other security forces.
