Terrorism is taking a new dimension across the world. While France is still recovering from the deadly attack it suffered last week in the hands of agents of death, news broke out today that gunmen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in
Mali's capital and took 170 people hostage. However, 87 of the 170 people who were taken hostage at the luxury hotel when suspected
Islamist militants stormed the hotel reportedly have been freed in the Malian capital Bamako, a
government official reported.
Islamist gunmen stormed a luxury hotel
packed with foreigners in Mali's capital Bamako on Friday, taking 170
hostages in a former French colony that has been battling rebels
allied with al Qaeda for several years.
Front view of the Radisson Blu Luxury hotel in Bamako, Mali
A senior security source said some of
the hostages had been freed after being made to recite verses from
the Koran. The French newspaper Le Monde quoted the Malian security
ministry as saying at least three hostages had been killed.
The raid on the Radisson Blu hotel,
which lies just west of the city center near government ministries
and diplomatic offices in the former French colony, comes a week
after Islamic State militants killed 129 people in Paris.
However, the identity of the Bamako gunmen, or
the group to which they belong, is not known.
Northern Mali was occupied by Islamist
fighters, some with links to al Qaeda, for most of 2012. They were
driven out by a French-led military operation, but sporadic violence
has continued in Mali's central belt on the southern reaches of the
Sahara, and in Bamako.
The security source said as many as 10
gunmen had stormed the building, firing shots and shouting "Allahu
Akbar", or "God is great" in Arabic. The hotel's head
of security said two private security guards had been injured in the
early stages of the attack, which began at 7 a.m. (Reuters)
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