USA condemns Mali attack, urges Americans to limit movement

Mali declared a 10-day state of emergency across the country starting Friday midnight, according to reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the attack on a hotel in Mali that killed at least 20 people and said the bloody siege is a reminder that the world needs to unitedly fight terror.

Malian security are hunting “more than three” suspects after a seven-hour siege of a luxury hotel in Bamako yesterday.

The three Chinese people killed were executives with China’s state-owned China Railway Construction Corp, the company said in a statement on its website.

The U.S. Embassy in Bamako issued a warning to citizens in the country on Twitter, saying it was “aware of an ongoing active shooter operation” and telling Americans in the country to seek shelter.

The exact number of attackers remains unknown, with the figures ranging between two and thirteen.

Around 10 men armed with guns and grenades entered the Radisson Blu at around 7am local time on Friday, shouting and screaming “Allahu Akbar”, which means “God Is great” in Arabic.

Three suspects are now being sought, a security source told the AFP news agency, without giving further details so as not to compromise the investigation.

The attack came as fears are mounting about terrorist threats a week after devastating attacks in Paris that killed 130 people claimed by the Islamic State group, which also said it had downed a Russian passenger jet in Egypt weeks before.

The assault began with gunmen pulling up at the hotel and shooting their way inside, taking guests and staff hostage.

Another four were Malian soldiers, according to two military officers interviewed on Saturday.

Assailants took 170 hostages inside the hotel earlier on Friday. French President Francois Hollande said France would “use all the means available to us on the ground to free the hostages”.

The UN force took over responsibility for protection in the united states from African and French troops following the principal towns in the north were recaptured in the Islamist militants.