People Freed from Mali Hotel, 12 People Dead

Five foreigners have been evacuated and a “number” of hostages freed after being trapped by gunmen in a hotel stand-off in central Mali that’s left at least seven people dead. Officials had earlier announced that five Malian soldiers were killed, two jihadis and a UN contractor, bringing the total death toll to 12.

Sources said three South Africans, a Frenchman and a Ukrainian had been registered at the hotel at the time of the attack.

Whitehouse said the attack was likely intended “to signal all Malians everywhere that neither their government nor the United Nations can keep them safe”, but he noted the rapid response by Mali’s forces.

According to a statement by the Malian government, at least five Malian soldiers were killed as well as two attackers and six others.

Located only a few kilometres from the regional capital Mopti, Sevare is a key staging post on the road to the desert north which fell to Islamic extremists in 2012.

Malian forces cordoned off the area but their efforts to dislodge the attackers were complicated by the presence of hostages.

Colonel Kone said: ‘It seems to be over and it has ended well.

Mali’s special forces were transported to Sevare from Bamako early Saturday and launched an operation to rescue the people inside the hotel.

Three attackers were also killed, he said.

A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Mali said one of those being held was a Russian citizen.

The South African national killed was 38 and “attached to an aviation company rendering services to the UN contingent in Mali“, Nelson Kgwete, a spokesman for the nation’s Department of global Relations and Cooperation, said on Twitter. A Russian diplomat said a Russian was among the hostages.

[Breaking news update, published at 9:30 a.m. ET]. “The operation was led by Mali’s gendarmerie with our companions”.

Describing the security forces’ operation early on Saturday, a Sevare resident living near the hotel told Reuters: “The assault… took place between 4 and 5 o’clock this morning (0400-0500 GMT)”.

Mali’s jihadi groups have been stepping up their attacks further south. The most recent extremist attack in the capital occurred in March when masked gunman opened fire in a restaurant popular with foreigners, killing five people.

Mali’s government and the UN mission in Mali both condemned the attack.