Gunmen who stormed a luxury hotel in Mali’s capital today and seized more than 100 guests and staff no longer have any hostages after a rescue operation by special forces, the government said.
Advertisement
Security Minister Salif Traore said on November 20 that Malian troops backed by American and French special forces stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako and flushed the Islamic extremists from the area.
Malian special forces were freeing hostages “floor by floor”, Traore told The Associated Press.
However, ISIS is known to be active in the wider region, and there were no immediate claims of responsibility to suggest which group could be behind the attack in Bamako.
Northern parts of the country were occupied by Islamist fighters for much of 2012 before a French-led force drove them out.
And in August, 17 people were killed during an attack on a hotel in Sevare in central Mali, a few 600 km (375 miles) northeast of Bamako, that was claimed by the Sahara-based Islamist militant group al-Mourabitoun.
“Good news! All 20 Indians in the hotel in Bamako have been safely evacuated”.
One report indicated that two Russians, who were airline employees, had escaped the hotel, although the state news agency Tass has reported that Russia did not have “exact information on Russian presence” at the Radisson Blu.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is condemning “the horrific terrorist attack” at the Radisson hotel in Mali’s capital and expressing hope that it won’t derail implementation of the peace agreement in the troubled West African nation.
That news has raised fears that dozens of people may be dead. The country’s state broadcaster said at least 80 of the hostages had been freed.
Several hours after the siege began, Malian special forces were seen entering the hotel building.
“Mr Dieudonne, with other foreign colleagues, was in Mali to give a seminar for Malian parliamentarians”, the Brussels-based parliament said. “I stayed still, hidden under the bed, not making a noise”, he said.
The two United States troops happened to be at the nearby U.S. embassy in Bamako for meetings when the hostage crisis erupted, said Lieutenant Commander Anthony Falvo of the US Africa Command (AFRICOM).
The timing of the attack comes just a day after Hollande praised his troops for successfully fighting Islamists in the landlocked former French colony.
Advertisement
One of them went to a joint operations center to provide “command and control” assistance, while the other dashed to the Radisson Blu hotel and helped “move personnel out to a secure location”, he added.
