At least 3 hostages killed in Mali siege, 20 freed

At least three hostages were killed Friday as jihadists besieged a luxury hotel in the capital Bamako, the country’s security ministry said, adding that security forces were now storming the establishment.

Gunmen went on the rampage at the Radisson Blu hotel and took 170 people hostage, the second such attack on a hotel in Mali since August.

Military commander Modibo Naman Traore told The Associated Press that about 20 hostages were freed later in the morning.

It was not immediately clear why the group was freed or how many exactly remained held by the militants.

Traore said 10 gunmen stormed the hotel shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” in Arabic before firing on the guards and taking hostages.

Some guests also have been able to escape the hotel. Monique Kouame Affoue Ekonde, an Ivorian, said she and six other people were escorted out by security forces.

Six Turkish Airlines personnel were among those trapped in the Radisson Blu hotel, a Turkish official said.

“We have confirmed that there are six personnel from Turkish Airlines” in the hotel, the official told AFP. A spokesman for the country’s flag-carrier airline THY declined to comment when contacted by AFP.