‘3 dead’ as gunmen storm Mali Radisson hotel

The Radisson Blu hotel, in the ACI-2000 neighbourhood of Commune III, was attacked by gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades this morning, who took 170 people hostage.Of the 170 taken hostage, 140 were said to be guests while 30 were staff members at the hotel.

At least three people are thought to have died, while unconfirmed reports suggested that the gunmen had released around 20 hostages, including those able to recite passages from the Koran.

Two security staff sustained injuries in initial exchanges of gunfire, while a vehicle smashed through a security barrier at 7am local time, according to eyewitnesses.

The AFP news agency were told by a source that ‘jihadists were firing in the [seventh-floor] corridor’.

The Radisson Blu hotel marked in blue, and the US embassy in red. Picture: Google Maps

The US-owned hotel chain, named after 17th Century French explorer Pierre-Esprit Radisson, is popular with ex-pats working in Mali while Air France confirmed its staff regularly use the hotel.

The US embassy, which is around 4.5km from the hotel, tweeted that it was ‘aware of an ongoing active shooter operation at the Radisson Hotel’ and advised all US citizens to ‘shelter in place’.