A coalition of US, French and Malian troops have stormed the hotel where a dozen militants were holding more than 170 people hostage in an early-morning raid in the Mali capital Bamako.
The seige came to an end after midnight Hong Kong time after troops secured all but 18 of the hostages.
Twenty-one people died Friday in an attack on a hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako, the country’s president said, according to media reports.
"Tonight the death toll is heavy," President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said on state television, declaring a 10-day state of emergency and three days of national mourning. He said two militants also died.
Three Chinese citizens had been killed in the attack, the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua reported this morning.
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U.N. peacekeepers initially counted 27 bodies at the hotel where gunmen had taken more than 100 guests and others captive.
The troops, who were accompanied by Malian soldiers, went room-to-room taking guests out of the hotel in the city centre, a UN official told Bloomberg by e-mail from Bamako.
Mali troopers assist a hostage in orange to leave the vicinity of the Radisson Blu hotel to safety. Photo: AP
Early-morning raid
“Very early in the morning there was gunfire. Apparently it's an attempt to take hostages. The police are there and are sealing off the area,” a source said.
Witnesses in the area said police had surrounded the hotel and were blocking roads leading into the neighbourhood.
The raid by suspected Islamist militants targeted the upmarket hotel, located just west of the city centre in a neighbourhood that is home to government ministries and diplomats.
“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 re-instate safety and security at the hotel,” the hotel chain said in a statement.
They said they had entered the hotel compound in a car that had diplomatic plates.
Security forces escort a man from the Radison Blu. Photo: AP
“It’s all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor,” one security source said.
Hostages released
One of the rescued hostages, celebrated Guinean singer Sékouba ‘Bambino’ Diabate, said he had overheard two of the assailants speaking in English as they searched the room next to his. “We heard shots coming from the reception area. I didn’t dare go out of my room because it felt like this wasn’t just simple pistols – these were shots from military weapons,” Diabate said.
Security sources in Mali said jihadists had launched a shooting rampage in the 190-room hotel and automatic weapons fire could be heard from outside the building.
Colonel Salif Traoré, Mali's minister of interior security said about 10 gunmen stormed the hotel shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” in Arabic before firing on the guards and taking hostages.
Jihadist group Al Mourabitoun and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Malian troops take position outside the Radisson Blu hotel. Gunmen went on a shooting rampage at the luxury Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital Bamako, seizing 170 guests and staff in an ongoing hostage-taking, the hotel chain said. Photo: AFP
Some guests also have been able to escape the hotel. Monique Kouame Affoue Ekonde, an Ivorian, said she and six other people were escorted out by security forces.
Northern Mali was occupied by Islamist fighters, some with links to al-Qaeda, for most of 2012.
Islamist groups have continued to wage attacks in Mali despite a June peace deal between former Tuareg rebels in the north of the country and rival pro-government armed groups.
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A Chinese guest surnamed Chen told Xinhua via the Wechat mobile app that many gunshots sounded outside his hotel room around 6.30 am, with a few more added later.
Witnesses could smell smoke in rooms and the hotel corridor. Internet connections were dropping out and phone calls to reception went unanswered.
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Photos and videos sent by Chen showed Mali’s riot police at the hotel in a stand off with attackers.
At least seven hostages were Chinese, Xinhua reported yesterday.
Embassies respond
The Chinese Embassy in Mali posted a statement on its website, acknowledging the raid and urging Chinese citizens in Mali to stay indoors.
Malian security forces take position near the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako on November 20, 2015. Photo: AFP
“Due to the constant worsening of [the] security situation in Bamako, the Chinese Embassy in Mali reminds Chinese institutions, nationals and overseas Chinese in Mali to step up safety precautions, avoid going out if unnecessary and avoid [the] above mentioned site as well as crowded areas to ensure personal safety,” the statement reads.
The US Embassy tweeted that it was “aware of an ongoing active shooter operation at the Radisson Hotel,” and instructed its citizens to stay indoors.
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Last November, China for the first time sent a 170-member combat force to Mali to join in the UN’s international peacekeeping mission, a major shift in Beijing’s peacekeeping approach as it had prior focused on providing logistical and medical personnel over the past two decades.
Mali has been battling al-Qaeda-allied rebels for years. Late on Friday, al-Mourabitoun, a group based in northern Mali and made up mostly of Tuaregs and Arabs, posted a message on Twitter saying it was behind the attack.
