he US embassy in Bamako said it was aware of an “ongoing shooter situation” and advised its citizens to seek shelter.
France, the former colonial power, launched a military offensive in 2013 at Mali’s request after Islamist militants seized the strategic town of Konna. The French president, François Hollande, on Thursday praised the country’s military involvement in a speech following the Paris terror attacks.
“France is leading this war with its armed forced, its soldiers, its courage. It must carry out this war with its allies, its partners giving us all the means available, as we did in Mali, as we are going to continue in Iraq, as we’ll continue in Syria,” he said.
The Radisson attack follows a nearly 24-hour siege and hostage-taking at another hotel in August in the central Malian town of Sevare in which five UN workers were killed, along with four soldiers and four attackers.
Five people, including a French citizen and a Belgian, were also killed in an attack at a restaurant in Bamako in March in the first such incident in the capital.
Northern Mali was occupied by Islamist fighters, some with links to al-Qaida, for most of 2012. Although they were driven out by the French-led military operation, sporadic violence continues.