Mali hostage crisis: Eighty hostages freed from Mali hotel siege, reports Reuters, with at least three people dead. Special forces clearing the Radisson hotel floor by floor with sporadic gunfire being heard.


The BBC says two of the victims were security guards at the hotel. The UN confirms it has sent reinforcements to the ongoing siege at the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali. Reports also say that French military officers are also aiding the UN with intelligence as the siege develops.


Two people "locked in" 140 guests and 30 employees in a hostage-taking at the Radisson Blu hotel in the Malian capital Bamako, this morning.  Men shouting God is great, armed with guns and throwing grenades stormed into the hotel. The US and French embassies told their citizens in Bamako to take shelter wherever they are.


Following a military coup in 2012, Islamic extremists took control of northern Mali, prompting a French-led military intervention in early 2013 that forced the extremists from northern towns and cities, though the north remains insecure and militant attacks have extended farther south this year.

In March masked gunmen shot up a restaurant in Bamako, located in Malis south, that is popular with foreigners, killing five people.