The US Embassy told news overnight that there was an “active shooter operation at the Radisson Hotel”.
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Five Defense Department personnel were caught in the middle of the hostage crisis at a hotel in Mali’s capital of Bamako on Friday and were safely released after the standoff with gunmen ended, defense officials said. Six American nationals at the hotel have since been rescued, alive but several other Americans remain trapped inside.
A rescued hostage, singer Skouba “Bambino” Diabate, said he overheard the attackers speaking in English.
A USA official said around 25 military personnel were in Bamako at the time of the attack and that a few of them are helping “with moving civilians to secured locations, while Malian forces clear the hotel of hostile gunmen”.
Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, narrowly escaped being among the 170 hostages seized in the unfolding hostage drama in the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in Mali’s capital, Bamako. The hotel group that owns the Radisson says that the only information it has on the attacks is that 140 guests and 30 employees were held in the attack.
They noted that this is a preliminary count as United Nations troops and Malian authorities continue to search the hotel.
Al-Mourabitoun, an Algeria-based radical group that has had ties to al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack later on Friday – a claim that has not yet been independently confirmed. By noon, the country’s state broadcaster, ORTM, reported that at least 80 of the hostages had been freed.
“I heard them say in English “Did you load it?’, “Let’s go”, Sékouba ‘Bambino” Diabate, who was freed by Malian security forces, said.
Belgian government official Geoffrey Dieudonné was identified as being among those dead, according to Agence France-Presse.
Mali has been under jihadist rule since 2012, and this hostage attack comes after a Mali peace treaty was denounced by a jihadist leader Tuesday, AFP reported. The security source said as many as 10 gunmen had stormed the building, firing shots and shouting “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is great” in Arabic.
Air France said all 12 of its crew members that were at the hotel are safe and Turkish Airlines said all seven of its crew members that were in the hotel were freed.
Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was in neighbouring Chad for a G5 Sahel security summit, has left for Bamako, according to the presidential office.
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A Radisson Blu hotel in Mali is under siege, according to multiple reports.
