Indians among 170 taken hostage in Mali (Third Lead)

The latest on the attack on a hotel in the Malian capital of Bamako.

The assault began around 7 a.m., when two or three attackers with AK-47 rifles exited at least one vehicle with diplomatic plates and entered the hotel with guns firing, said Olivier Saldago, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

One security source said as many as 10 gunmen had stormed the building, although the company that runs the hotel, Rezidor Group, said it understood that there were only two attackers.

Thomson ReutersSecurity forces drive near the Radisson hotel in BamakoAnsar Dine, a front for al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has also claimed several attacks in southern Mali this year, including two near the border with the Ivory Coast.

In Belgium, Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said there were four Belgians registered at the attacked hotel but it’s unclear if they were taken hostage by the gunmen or not.

Twelve Air France crew members staying in the hotel were in a “safe place”, the airline said. As many as 10 Chinese tourists were reported to be among those trapped in the hotel.

A US military official says at least six Americans have been evacuated from the Radisson Blu hotel.

Malian special forces were freeing hostages “floor by floor”, Traore told The Associated Press.

President Francois Hollande said on Friday France has offered to help Mali after suspected Islamists took hostages in a Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako.

The Radisson Blu Hotel is about 15 minutes from Bamako Senou global Airport. “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”.

Mongi Hamdi, head of the United Nations mission in Mali, said the diplomats’ meetings, which began Thursday, were a possible reason for the attack. The ministry did not specify how many soldiers have been sent to the Malian capital.

USA special operations forces also were helping “move civilians to secured locations as Malian forces clear the hotel of hostile gunmen”, said Lt. Cmdr. Residents of the ancient city of Timbuktu cheered French troops as liberators when they were freed of al-Qaeda’s brutal Sharia.

Monique Kouame Affoue Ekonde, from Ivory Coast, said she and six other people, including a Turkish woman, were escorted out by security forces as the gunmen rushed “toward the fifth or sixth floor”.

Just a week after the Paris terrorist attacks, the benefactor of a lot of France’s counterterrorism efforts suffered an attack on a popular hotel.

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita cut short a trip to a regional summit in Chad to return to Bamako, his office said.

The USA and French embassies asked their citizens to take shelter where they are in Bamako.

Air France spokesman Ulli Gendrot said the “3852 flight has been canceled”.

A Malian military official has said at least three people are confirmed dead in the attack and that more than 100 hostages are believed to be held.