BAMAKO, Mali
(AP) --- The latest on the attack on a hotel in the Malian capital of Bamako. (All times local):
7:33 p.m.
Germany's foreign minister says four of his
country's citizens survived the siege in Bamako
unharmed.
Frank-Walter
Steinmeier says no Germans are known to have been injured in the attack
He paid tribute
late Friday to Malian security forces and French forces who supported them in
freeing the hostages.
Steinmeier said
"today's terrorist attack makes clear again that there's still a long way
to go before Mali is stabilized and that Islamic terrorism in the region hasn't
been defeated yet."
He also reiterated
that Germany is prepared to
increase its involvement in Mali
and the region. Germany
currently has nine soldiers in Mali
as part of the Minusma mission, and 200 as part of the EUTM training mission.
7:19 p.m.
A spokeswoman for Quebec's national assembly says an employee of the
institution was among the hostages freed after Islamic extremists stormed the
Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's
capital.
Noemie Cimon-Mattar
said Friday Maxime Carrier-Legare was in the hotel but is now safe.
She said
Carrier-Legare has been working as an adviser to an association of francophone
parliaments since 2011."
6:40 p.m.
UN mission
spokesman Olivier Salgado says two attackers in the Mali hotel siege have been killed
but he cannot yet confirm that operation is over. Security forces are going
from room to room checking for more casualties.
Another U.N.
official says initial reports from the field indicate that 27 people were
killed in the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital. It is not clear if
that total included the bodies of the attackers.
The official,
speaking on condition of anonymity because the operation is still ongoing, said
12 bodies were found in the basement and 15 bodies were found on the second
floor.
The official
stressed, however, that operations are ongoing and that the building had yet to
be totally cleared.
—Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations
6:20 p.m.
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is condemning "the horrific terrorist
attack" at the Radisson hotel in Mali's capital and expressing hope
that it won't derail implementation of the peace agreement in the troubled West
African nation.
Ban's spokesman,
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric, says the U.N. chief noted with concern that
Friday's attack took place "at a time when the peace process is making
good progress," and signatories were in Bamako to attend a meeting,
He says Ban is
expressing "full support to the Malian authorities in their fight against
terrorist and extremist groups" and sent condolences to the bereaved
families and the many injured.
Dujarric says a
U.N. peacekeeping force has been assisting Malian authorities in handling the
crisis.
Dujarric said the
three U.N. staff members in the hotel during the attack "were safely
evacuated."
4:55 p.m.
Malian state
television is reporting that no more hostages are being held at a luxury hotel
after a daylong siege by Islamic militants.
National
broadcaster ORTM, citing security officials, said 18 bodies were found at the
hotel so far and that no more hostages were being held.
It was not
immediately clear whether the attackers were still inside.
Gunfire continued
into the late afternoon, and Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traore said
operations were continuing.
4:30 p.m.
An extremist group
that two years ago split from al-Qaida's North Africa
branch and led by Moktar Belmoktar claimed responsibility for the attack, in a
recorded statement carried by Al-Jazeera. The group said it wanted fighters
freed from Mali's
prisons and for attacks against northern Malians to stop.
The group, known as
the Mourabitounes, was formed in 2013 after Belmoktar left al-Qaida in the
Islamic Maghreb and fused with a Malian militant group. The statement issued
Friday said the Mourabitounes had attacked in coordination with the
"Sahara Emirate" affiliated with al-Qaida.
3:20 p.m.
United Nations
deputy spokesman Farhan Haq says U.N. "quick-reaction forces" have
been deployed to the siege area at the Radisson Blu hotel and are supporting
Malian and other security forces.
But he said that
U.N. peacekeeping troops are not conducting operations. He said the United
Nations had a few staff members in the hotel at the time of the attack but they
are all safely out.
Separately, the
French Defense Ministry says a unit of French soldiers has arrived in Bamako in support of
Malian security forces. It did not specify how many soldiers were involved.
France has 3,500 troops operating in Mali and four other countries in the Sahel region as part of a five-nation counterterrorism
operation codenamed Barkhane.
2:55 p.m.
A U.S. military official says at
least six Americans have been evacuated from the Radisson Blu hotel.
U.S. military
personnel already stationed in the country have been helping take people from
the hotel to safety.
Col. Mark R.
Cheadle, a spokesman for the U.S. Africa Command, says the U.S. military hasn't received any other requests
for help responding to the attack, but that the United
States will continue assisting the French with
intelligence and surveillance in Mali.
French Prime
Minister Manuel Valls meanwhile is expressing his support for Mali, France's former West African
colony, saying it is a country "that fights jihadism so bravely."
2:45 p.m.
France's national gendarme service
says "about 40" French special police forces are taking part in the
assault on the Radisson Blu hotel.
A spokesman for the
service who was not authorized to be publicly named said the forces are
permanently based in Bamako,
primarily to secure the French Embassy.
He said they are
currently "playing a supporting role" alongside local security
forces.
—Nicolas Vaux-Montagny in Paris
2:25 p.m.
A spokesman for the
U.S. Africa Command says U.S.
military forces stationed in Mali
are helping to secure the scene of the hotel attack in Mali.
Col. Mark R.
Cheadle says American military personnel "have helped move civilians to
secure locations, as Malian forces work to clear the hotel of hostile
gunmen."
U.S. State Dept.
spokesman John Kirby says Americans "might be present at the hotel,"
and that the U.S. Embassy in Bamako
is working to verify this.
1:30 p.m.
The Brussels-based
Rezidor Hotel group that operates the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako when the assault began says 125 guests
and 13 employees are still in the hotel.
Separately, Germany's
foreign minister says that two Germans who were taken hostage in the hotel have
been set free.
Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters on Friday during a visit to Zambia that is
unclear whether any other Germans were in the hotel, the dpa news agency
reported.
1 p.m.
Malian state TV
says 80 people who were in the hotel in Bamako
when the assault began have now been freed. The special forces were continuing
their operation to end the standoff.
Earlier, the
Brussels-based Rezidor Hotel group that operates the Bamako hotel said the assailants had
"locked in" 140 guests and 30 employees in the attack on Friday.
Malian troops
reacted quickly. As people ran for their lives near the hotel along a dirt
road, the soldiers in full combat gear pointed the way to safety. Within hours,
local TV images showed heavily armed troops in what appeared to be a lobby
area.
12:35 p.m.
President Barack
Obama says he's monitoring the situation playing out in Mali.
Obama made the
brief comment about hotel attack after a meeting in Kuala Lumpur with Malaysian Prime Minister
Najib Razak. He didn't offer any additional details.
The White House
says Obama was briefed about the attack by his national security adviser, Susan
Rice. White House officials say Obama has asked to be kept updated about new
developments.
12:20 p.m.
Malian army
commander, Modibo Nama Traore, says Malian special forces have entered the
hotel and are freeing hostages "floor by floor."
He says at least 30
hostages have been freed already and that Malian security forces are trying to
make contact with the assailants.
Traore says at
least one guest earlier reported that the attackers instructed him to recite
verses from the Quran before he was allowed to leave the hotel.
12:15 p.m.
Air France says 12 members of one of its plane crew
who are staying at the attacked hotel in Bamako
are all safe.
Air France
spokeswoman Ulli Gendrot told The Associated Press that the "the crew is
in a safe place." She said the 12 included two pilots.
12:10 p.m.
French President
Francois Hollande says France
is ready to help Mali with
all means necessary in the wake of the hotel attack in the capital, Bamako.
Hollande asks all
French citizens in Mali
to make contact with the French Embassy there "in order that everything is
made to offer them protection."
In Belgium, Foreign
Minister Didier Reynders said there were four Belgians registered at the
attacked hotel but it's unclear if they were taken hostage by the gunmen or
not.
Reynders also said
there are "15 hostages who have been freed after an intervention" but
didn't provide more details.
11:57 a.m.
Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has cut
short its tip to Chad
where he was attending a meeting of G5 Sahel.
The Mali presidency said on Twitter that Keita will
be back to Bamako
"in the next hours."
Meanwhile, France's
national gendarme service says about 50 elite police troops are en route from Paris to Bamako.
A spokesman for the
service who was not authorized to be publicly named said they are heading
Friday from two different units of special police forces trained for emergency
situations.
—Nicolas Vaux-Montagny in Paris
11:52 a.m.
Air France has cancelled its Paris-Bamako flight
after gunmen attacked a hotel in the Mali capital.
Air France
spokesman Ulli Gendrot said the "3852 flight has been canceled." It
was due later Friday.
The attackers
seized about 170 hostages on Friday morning at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
A Malian military
official has said at least three people are confirmed dead in the attack and
that more than 100 hostages are believed to be held.
