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BREAKING: Heavy Gunfire Heard From Inside Mali Hotel, Special Forces Seeking to Free Hostages
At Least 3 Dead as Hostage Crisis in Mali Hotel Continues
Reportedly, the mastermind of the attack is militant group Ansar Dine, an al-Qaeda affiliate seeking to establish Sharia laws in Mali.
As many as 125 guests and 13 employees of the Radisson Blu hotel are being held hostage in the Malian capital of Bamako by extremists, the hotel operator said in a statement Friday.
“We are closely following the hostage-taking incident that is taking place at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Bamako / Mali today, 20th November 2015. According to our latest information 125 guests and 13 employees are still in the building,” the statement said.
Malian Special Forces started storming the hotel. Paris sent fifty acounter-terrorism officers to assist them. US special forces are also participating in the operation.
The Malian Special Forces freed about 30 hostages during the operation to retake control of the hotel. Nineteen Indian hostages were reportedly evacuated.
“Our special forces have freed about 30 hostages and others were able to escape on their own,” Col. Salif Traore stated, as quoted by the Jeune Afrique news website.
According to him, three hostages, all foreigners, were killed during the special forces’ operation.
Earlier in the day, several gunmen took 170 people hostages in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako. According to French media, at least three people have been killed by the terrorists.
Read more: http://sputniknews.com/africa/20151120/1030457623/hostage-crisis-mali-bamako.html
