A hostage situation in the capital of Mali two gunmen are holding 170 people at a Radisson hotel, in the centre of Bamako.
According to News scource BBC, Police have surrounded the hotel, which the gunmen entered shooting, and shouting "God is great!" in Arabic, a security source told Reuters. A BBC reporter says the US-owned hotel is popular with expats working in Mali. In August, suspected Islamist gunmen killed 13 people, including five UN workers, during a hostage siege at a hotel in the central Malian town of Sevare. France, the former colonial power in Mali, intervened in the country in January 2013 when al-Qaeda-linked militants threatened to march on Bamako after taking control of the north of the country.
