Gunmen take 170 hostages at a hotel in Mali

Gunmen attacked a five-star hotel in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday and are holding 170 hostages, witnesses said. Attackers started a shooting rampage inside the Radisson Blu Hotel - owned by the Rezidor Hotel Group - in the centre of the capital, security sources told the AFP news agency. "It is all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor," an unnamed security official was quoted as saying. 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.