Mali hotel attack

[walkonby]

There was another hostage situation happening today......

By Ed Payne and Jason Hanna, CNN

Updated 10:04 AM ET, Fri November 20, 2015

(CNN)LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• [9:27 a.m. ET] Seven Algerians, including six members of a Algerian diplomatic delegation, are safe after being trapped in the hotel in Mali's capital, the state-run Algerie Presse Service reported Friday afternoon. The Algerians were freed during a counterassault by U.N. and Malian forces, the outlet reported.



Security forces have reportedly launched a counterassault on a hotel in the capital of the West African nation of Mali, where officials say gunmen took dozens of hostages and killed at least three people Friday morning.
The situation began around 7 a.m. at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, when two or three attackers with AK-47 rifles exited at least one vehicle with diplomatic plates and entered the hotel with guns firing, said Olivier Saldago, a spokesman for the United Nations mission in Mali.
Two Malian nationals and a French national have died, a U.N. official said without elaborating.
The attack, Saldago said, came as the hotel hosted a large delegation to peace talks in the landlocked country, a former French colony that has been battling Islamist extremists with the help of U.N. and French forces.
There was conflicting information about how many people were in the hotel. The Radisson chain said that as many as 170 people had been at the hotel at the start, and that 125 guests and 13 employees still were inside by early Friday afternoon.
By noon, the country's state broadcaster, ORTM, reported that at least 80 people had been freed. But Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita released a statement indicating 17 had been rescued.
Malian soldiers, with help from U.N. troops, had the hotel surrounded, a journalist for ORTM told CNN from the scene. Two security personnel also are injured, Malian Security Minister Salif Traore said on ORTM.
"We're still hearing erratic gunfire," journalist Katarina Hoije told CNN from near the scene Friday afternoon.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the incident.



http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/20/africa...ing/index.html

[gryphon]

The whole world has gone insane

[walkonby]

latest update


Three confirmed dead in Mali hotel attack


Harouna Traore And Baba Ahmed, The Associated Press


Published Friday, November 20, 2015 5:16AM EST
Last Updated Friday, November 20, 2015 12:21PM EST



BAMAKO, Mali -- Malian national television reported that no more hostages were being held at a luxury hotel after a day-long siege by Islamic militants.

National broadcaster ORTM, citing security officials, said 18 bodies already had been at the hotel and that no more hostages were being held. A source with Mali's U.N. mission said at least 12 bodies had been recovered from the hotel. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
It was not immediately clear whether attackers were still alive inside the hotel.



Friday Nov. 20, 2015. Men shouting "God is great" and armed with guns and throwing grenades stormed into the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital Friday morning. (Malikahere.com via AP)




Gunfire continued into the late afternoon, and Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traore said operations were continuing.
An extremist group that two years ago split from al-Qaida's North Africa branch claimed responsibility for the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamak

[beachdown]

Am guessing this won't get the same attention as Paris, even though this is an old French colony.

An extremist group led by former al-Qaeda commander Moktar Belmoktar, who has been linked to the 2008 abduction of two former Canadian diplomats, claimed responsibility for the attack on a Mali hotel that left at least 21 people dead.
Heavily armed Islamic extremists in the West African country seized dozens of hostages Friday at a Radisson Hotel, but Malian troops, backed by U.S. and French special forces, swarmed in to retake the building and free many of the terrified captives. At least 21 people were killed along with two gunmen during the more than seven-hour siege, a Malian military commander said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/mali-ho...ages-1.3327432