According to BBC, the Islamist gunmen that stormed the Raddison Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali, taking 170 hostages and killing three, have no more hostages after special forces raided the hotel. Among the three confirmed dead was a member of Belgium’s parliament, Geoffrey Dieudonne. The gunmen entered the hotel this morning shooting and shouting “God is great!” in Arabic. The fate of the other hostages is still unclear, but according to Reuters, UN peacekeepers counted 27 bodies at the attack of the hotel.
Malian troops led the raid freeing dozens of hostages, but they had help from U.S. and French special forces. Mali’s presidency thanked security forces and friendly countries for their support in these attacks. Al-Mourabitoun, an African jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter, but officials have not yet verified the claim’s validity.
