DHAKA: Gunmen have launched an attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in the centre of Mali’s capital Bamako.

Two people have “locked in” 140 guests and 30 employees in an ongoing hostage-taking, the hotel chain said in a statement on Friday, reports enca.com.

Automatic weapons fire could be heard from outside the 190-room hotel, where security forces have set up a security cordon.

An attack on a restaurant in the capital of Mali in May saw four people killed, including two Malians, a citizen of France and a citizen of Belgium.

Besides, in August, gunmen killed 13 people, including five UN workers, during a hostage siege at a hotel in the central Malian town of Sevare.

BDST: 1528 HRS, NOV 20, 2015
SR