A hostage situation is taking pace in Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali’s capital, Bamako. Local reports say gunmen were holding 170 people hostage.
The siege started at 7 GMT and three people were reportedly killed.
The US-owned hotel were stormed by the militants who reportedly fired and “shouted Islamic Chants”, according to Mali security officials.
Local Malian TV said that more than 70 people have been freed.
Mali has been suffering from conflict in its northernmost region after the Tuareg, an ethnic minority spread across several countries in the Sahara, and Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists launched a campaign against the Malian government in 2012, which then led to a French military intervention.
