Malian security forces, backed by French troops and U.S. special forces, surrounded the hotel.
State-run Malian TV repored that 20 bodies had been found and no more captives were being held. But it was not immediately clear if any gunmen remained inside the building.
A local Islamist extremist group, Al-Murabitoun, claimed in a recording obtained by Al-Jazeera TV that it had carried out the attack in coordination with al-Qaida’s local affiliate.
The hotel, frequented by foreigners, was seen as a prime target for terrorists but was lightly secured, despite increasing attacks in Bamako recently. Six Americans were reported to be among those freed.
A week after the Islamic State attacks in Paris, the attack appeared to be a new assault on French interests — with France the standout Western military power in West Africa fighting Islamist extremist groups.
At least 80 people, some of them injured, were freed or escaped after U.S. special operations forces and Malian special forces entered the hotel, according to Malian state TV. Twelve Air France staff members were among those freed, according to the airline.
“Special Operations Command Forward-North and West Africa personnel are currently assisting hostage recovery efforts at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali. A small group of U.S. forces have helped move civilians to secure locations, as Malian forces work to clear the hotel of hostile gunmen,” said Col. Mark R. Cheadle, U.S. Africa Command’s spokesman.
U.S. special operations forces worked with French forces at the hotel and rescued at least six Americans who were being held hostage, he said. American forces in the country routinely help the French with intelligence-sharing, aerial refueling and other missions.
Heavy gunfire was heard from the hotel as the operation continued, with the gunmen reportedly holed up on the seventh floor.
The attacks come amid a deteriorating security situation in Mali, with Islamic militant groups from the north increasingly infiltrating the south and launching attacks. It wasn’t known how many gunmen were involved in the attack or which group was responsible.
The attack could be a sign that militant groups in northern Mali, until now mostly allied with al-Qaida, may be switching their allegiance to Islamic State, a development that would deepen the threat to French interests in West Africa.
There were 170 people in the hotel at the time of the attack, according to the Malian presidency, including 30 staffers. Gunmen stormed the hotel around 7 a.m., yelling “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” later freeing people who could recite Quranic verses, military officials told The Associated Press. The U.S. embassy in Bamako warned citizens to remain indoors as the operation unfolded.
One of the hotel’s residents, Guinean singer Sekouba Bambino Diabate, told Reuters he heard the attackers speaking English.
“I heard them say in English, ‘Did you load it?’ ‘Let’s go,’” Diabate said after he was freed.
France intervened in Mali in early 2013 after al-Qaida-linked militias seized more than half the country in 2012. The groups included al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar Dine and the Movement for Justice and Unity in West Africa (MUJAO), which imposed a harsh form of Islamic law across the region. France saw the conquests as a direct threat to Europe, with terror groups having a stronghold on France’s back doorstep and within easy striking distance of Europe.
The French action, Operation Serval, with 4,500 troops, swiftly drove militant groups out of the major cities. France scaled back in August 2014, merging Operation Serval into an operation across five countries in the region, including Mali. Operation Barkhane, consisting of 3,000 forces, was spread too thinly to contain the increasing militant attacks.
A U.N. force, MINUSMA, with a presence of 10,000, also is stationed in Mali but has little focus on the terror threat, while Mali’s army remains poorly equipped and unable to secure the country’s vast desert territory without outside help.
The attack could have been carried out by any of five major militant groups in Mali. Earlier this month, Ansar Dine leader Iyad Ag Ghaly called for attacks on French interests in Mali. MUJAO reportedly declared allegiance to the Islamic State in May, several months after Nigerian militant group Boko Haram joined with the Islamic State. A third group, the Macina Liberation Front, which emerged early this year, has been implicated in several recent attacks, including one on a hotel in central Mali that killed 13.
Friday’s attack came amid French fears that AQIM and Ansar Dine may pledge allegiance to the Islamic State, amid reports an Islamic State envoy traveled to northern Mali recently for meetings with leaders of AQIM, Ansar Dine and other terror groups.
Malian authorities on Friday dismissed initial reports that the attackers arrived at the hotel in a car with diplomatic plates, saying that they drove up to the hotel at the same time as a car with diplomatic plates and opened fire on it.
French President Francois Hollande pledged to help and sent an elite paramilitary unit to Bamako.
In recent months, Malian militant groups have switched focus from attacking military targets in the north to threatening civilian targets in central and southern Mali.
The country has seen several deadly attacks this year, including one on a restaurant in March that left five dead: two French, a Belgian and two Malians. It was claimed by Al-Mourabitoun, led by Algerian militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who was responsible for the 2013 attack on a gas facility in Algeria that took 800 hostages, 39 of whom were killed.
In August, gunmen attacked a hotel in the town of Sevare, killing 13 people, claimed the FLM. There also have been attacks on security posts in Bamako and at a U.N. residence.
September saw an attack near Mopti that killed two police officers and two civilians.
Another militant group, the Guardians of Jihad, recently issued death threats against foreign journalists in Mali, particularly from France, warning them to leave the country.
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(Los Angeles Times staff writer W.J. Hennigan in Washington contributed to this report.)
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