As many as 170 people had been trapped inside the hotel and at least 105 of them were rescued, according to state television.
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It said the attack was retaliation for government aggression in northern Mali, Al Akhbar reported.
Video aired by ORTM showed security personnel leading people out of the building.
He expressed honest condolences to the government of Mali and the bereaved families and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded victims of this attack.
A man who worked for a Belgian regional parliament was among the dead, the assembly said. Two suspected Islamists were also shot dead when special forces stormed the building to free the hostages, many of them foreigners. In addition, he said five people were injured including two police officers.
Violent extremist groups (who were not party to the peace accords) have been behind shootings, bomb attacks and assassinations around the country.
The Radisson Blu Hotel is in an upscale neighborhood outside the center of Bamako, rising high above the dusty streets and surrounding houses.
In its condemnation of the attack, the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation linked the attack to the negotiations, saying its goal was to “destabilize Mali and destroy the peace process”.
Jens David Ohlin, an global law expert at Cornell University, said France has “invested so much military energy in pushing the Islamic rebels out of Mali”. “They have lost a lot of leaders in the last three years because of the French military intervention”.
The hotel’s owner said it was working to establish the names and nationalities of those taken.
President Barack Obama says he’s monitoring the situation playing out in Mali. French special forces are believed to be on the scene and assisting in the counter-assault.
“While Mali might not have the same emotional significance to the French as Paris does, it is certainly an important part of the French military strategy”, he added.
Al Mourabitoun has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks, including an assault on a hotel in the town of Sevare, 600 km (375 miles) northeast of Bamako, in August in which 17 people including five United Nations staff were killed.
Shmuel Benalal, 60, from Tzur Hadassah near Jerusalem, was among 27 killed on Friday when terrorists stormed the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako and laid siege to the luxury hotel for a few nine hours.
“When I opened the door, I saw, on the floor, bullets”, Skapoullis said. “So I gently closed the door, and …”
“We heard shots coming from the reception area”.
“The attackers went into the room next to mine”.
“Later, the Malian forces came to get us”. Who’s behind the newest attack? At least three deaths were reported.
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Kirby had said earlier that “a dozen” Americans – including U.S. embassy staff – were among those rescued during the dramatic and confused events.
