Gunmen storm Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali this morning

Gunmen suspected to be Jihadists have taken about 170 people hostage after they attacked Radisson Blu Hotel, a five-star hotel in Mali's capital Bamako this morning. The armed men stormed the hotel and started a shooting rampage. "It is all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor," an unnamed security official told AFP.


Automatic weapon fire could be heard from outside the 190-room hotel, where security forces set up a security cordon. "The Rezidor Hotel Group ... is aware of the hostage-taking that is ongoing at the property today... As per our information two persons have locked in 140 guests and 30 employees," the company said in a statement.

The shooting follows a 24-hour siege and hostage-taking situation at another hotel in August in the central Malian town of Sevare.