A source said that “a number of hostages” were freed by Malian forces, including the five foreigners, although their nationalities were not specified.
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Earlier, a spokesman for Mali’s President told CNN that officials believed the dead included five soldiers, four attackers and three civilians, but that the toll had yet to be confirmed.
“The gunmen attacked the hotel with AK-47s and launched rockets while they yelled, ‘Allahu Akbar, ‘” Arby said. “They were hiding”, Radhia Achouri said, as Reuters reported.
Malian forces have cordoned off the area and it’s not clear how many people are still being held by the attackers.
The military officials of Malian told that French and South African nationals were staying at the militants captured hotel.
A 38-year-old South African who died in the attack worked for an aviation company that was assisting the UN contingent in Mali, Nelson Kgwete, spokesman for South Africa’s foreign ministry, said on Twitter.
One of the attackers was wearing an explosives belt, the source said.
Colonel Diaran Kone said, “It seems to be over and it has ended well”.
Sevare is about 470 kilometers (293 miles) northeast of Bamako.
At least two militants were also killed. He said the army is making “a systematic search” of the hotel.
The siege began following an attack outside a military site in Sevare by Islamist militants who were pushed back by security forces and fled to Le Byblos hotel, the UN mission in Mali, known as Minusma, said.
UN soldiers have been helping to keep the peace in Mali but have continued to come under attack from Islamic militants.
AQIM and two allied Islamist groups seized control of Mali’s north in 2012 before being ousted by French and Malian forces in January 2013.
France has more than 1,000 soldiers based in northern Mali as part of regional anti-terrorist efforts.
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“It’s a troubling sign that the armed Islamist groups are intent on stepping up the pressure both on the Malian government and on the United Nations and French presence”, said Bruce Whitehouse, Mali expert and associate professor at Lehigh University. The next day extremists briefly occupied a village near Ivory Coast.
