18 bodies recovered as special forces end Mali hotel siege

BAAKO, Mali — Eighteen bodies have so far been recovered so far from a siege at a luxury hotel in the Mali’s capital Bamako, a foreign security source said Friday evening, while Mali’s security minister said the gunmen who stormed the Radisson Blu are holding no more hostages.

“Eighteen bodies were found,” the foreign source said on condition of anonymity, adding that French special forces stationed in neighboring Burkina Faso were in the hotel and “participating in operations alongside Malians.”

The gunmen, who stormed the luxury hotel early Friday morning and seized more than 100 guests and staff, no longer have any hostages after a rescue operation by special forces, the government said.

“They currently have no more hostages in their hands and forces are in the process of tracking them down,” Security Minister Salif Traore told a news conference following a stand-off of several hours at the hotel. Three people were killed at the beginning of the attack.

A Belgian regional assembly official was among those killed when the gunmen stormed the hotel, his employer said.

Geoffrey Dieudonne, an official with the parliament of Belgium’s French-speaking community, had been in Mali for a convention, the parliament said in a statement.

“Mr Dieudonne, with other foreign colleagues, was in Mali to give a seminar for Malian parliamentarians,” the Brussels-based parliament said. “At this stage the exact circumstances of his tragic death are not yet known.”

A short time earlier, the defense ministry in Paris said that French special forces had deployed at the hotel to assist in ending the hostage situation.

“In response to the request from the Malian authorities, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian decided to send a unit of French special forces,” the ministry said, adding they had come in from Burkina Faso.

The units were “in place from 2:00 pm French time (1300 GMT)”, the ministry said.

US special forces were also helping in the effort to rescue hostages, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

Gunmen had been holding guests and employees hostage at the hotel, according to the Radisson chain. They are believed to have entered the 190-room hotel around 0700 GMT in a car with diplomatic plates, before taking guests and staff hostage.

Gunmen had seized 170 people, including many foreigners, in a hail of automatic gunfire, exactly a week after the deadly jihadist rampage in Paris.

A terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attack, Israel’s Channel 2 television reported Friday afternoon.

Witnesses described “around a dozen” armed assailants. Malian military commander Modibo Naman Traore told The Associated Press that 10 gunmen stormed the hotel shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” in Arabic before firing on the guards and taking hostages.

Traore said that about 20 hostages were freed Friday morning. It was not immediately clear why the group was freed or how many exactly remained held by the militants.

A US official said Friday that the country’s special forces have helped to rescue “at least six” Americans from the hotel.

“Special Operations Command Forward-North and West Africa personnel are currently assisting hostage recovery efforts at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako,” Lieutenant Colonel Michelle Baldanza said.

“US forces have helped move civilians to secured locations, as Malian forces clear the hotel of hostile gunmen.”

A spokesman for India’s foreign ministry said on Twitter Friday that 20 Indians had also been rescued from inside the hotel.

“Good news! All 20 Indians in the hotel in Bamako have been safely evacuated. Our Ambassador in Mali has confirmed,” Vikas Swarup tweeted.

AP contributed to this report