Mali Hostage Crisis Ends With 27 People Dead, Including Five Attackers, Military Officials Say

Soldiers in Mali’s capital shot their way into a Radisson Blu hotel, liberating scores of hostages in a seven-hour siege that military officials said left 27 people dead, including five attackers, and ended one of the biggest hostage standoffs in recent years.

Troops from France and the U.S., alongside United Nations peacekeepers, blocked off roads while Malian soldiers fought their way to the seventh floor of the hotel in Bamako, where gunmen had been holding 170 hostages, according to officials and witnesses.

Kalashnikov-toting Malian forces and Western military advisers whisked hostages out of the chaotic lobby of the hotel, a favorite with diplomats and foreign businesspeople. Early on, the gunmen released 30 hostages who successfully recited the Islamic profession of faith, witnesses said.

Military officials confirmed the death toll in the early evening. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the others who died were hostages or soldiers, but the bodies of three middle-aged white men lay in the foyer of the hotel.

“When the terrorists understood that we were coming for them, they executed the hostages in their possession,” said a soldier who wasn’t authorized to give his name.

Next to him, another soldier had tears streaming down his face. ”He just lost his friend,” the first soldier said.

French troops are at war with al Qaeda militants in Mali, a vast nation in the west of the Sahara.

It wasn't clear whether one of the half-dozen terrorist groups in Mali conducted the attack. Mali is home to several al Qaeda-affiliated groups, who often take days to release statements to claim responsibility for attacks.

It is also home to an increasing numbers of Islamic State sympathizers, prompting questions over the timing after a string of Islamic State attacks on Paris—including last week’s that killed 130 people—and other European and Middle Eastern targets.

The attack began around 6 a.m. local time when gunmen carjacked a diplomatic SUV approaching the hotel, a military official said. After driving through the hotel gate, the gunmen released the driver, shot a security guard and stormed the hotel, witnesses said.

By 11 a.m., the hotel was surrounded by about 20 French soldiers and more than 100 U.N. peacekeepers and Malian troops. Tanks and armored cars blocked the roads. A French fighter jet screeched overhead, breaking the otherwise-eerie silence of a tense standoff.

Amadou Keita, a driver for the Acte Sept cultural center across the street, was holed up with three colleagues. “We want to find a way to leave and go home,” he said.