BAMAKO (Reuters) - Malian special forces stormed a luxury hotel in Bamako on Friday after Islamist gunmen took 170 people including many foreigners hostage in the capital of the former French colony, which has been battling rebels allied to al Qaeda for several years.
"They've penetrated inside the hotel. The operations are under way," a police source told Reuters.
State television said 80 hostages had been freed but the French newspaper Le Monde quoted the Malian security ministry as saying at least three people had been killed in the initial attack. A witness outside the hotel said gunfire could be heard from time to time.
A senior security source said the gunmen had burst into Radisson Blu hotel at 7 a.m. (0200 ET), firing and shouting "Allahu Akbar", or "God is great" in Arabic, and begun working their way through the building, room by room and floor by floor. ...
Posts
