Al Mourabitoun, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb carried out Mali attack

Around 170 guests and employees were initially taken hostage, but a few apparently escaped in the initial chaos or hid in the sprawling hotel, which has 190 rooms and a spa, outdoor pool, and ballroom.

Belmokhtar, who is Algerian, has been a key figure for years in insurgencies across North Africa and the Saharan border region, but in June authorities in Libya said he had been killed by a US air strike there.

One security source said the Bamako attack could serve to refocus global attention on al Qaeda after Islamic State, which controls a swathe of Iraq and Syria, launched coordinated assaults a week ago in Paris in which at least 129 people died.

The U.S. Embassy in Mali asked citizens to shelter in place amid reports of an “ongoing active shooter operation” at the Radisson Blu Hotel in the capital, Bamako, raising fears of a terror attack.

The attackers shot and killed three security guards upon entering the hotel, the government said.

After nine hours, the attack came to a close after Malian security forces killed two militants and freed the remaining hostages.

The United States has no indication that Islamic State or Boko Haram militants were involved in the attack, the source said.

French President Francois Hollande said he had assured Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita that France “is available to offer the necessary support to the forces of his country”.

RFI said the attackers shouted “Allahu akbar”, or “God is great” in Arabic.

Belmokhtar, who was the military commander of al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, became one of the globe’s most wanted after he masterminded an attack on an Algerian gas plant in 2013 that killed 39 workers, six of them Brits.

Al-Mourabitoun is the organisation of Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

Mali was plunged into violence after a military coup in March 2012 left a power vacuum that allowed Islamist militants to join with separatists and seize northern areas of the country.