Grenade-throwing gunmen stormed a hotel packed with foreigners Friday in the former French colony of Mali, killing three and taking dozens of guests and workers hostage, officials told NBC News.
Shouting "Allahu Akbar," or "God is great" in Arabic, the attackers opened fire on the guards and quickly took dozens of captives, Mali army commander Modibo Nama Traore told The Associated Press.
In the chaos, many of the guests — including six Americans — managed to escape the sprawling pink and cream colored hotel in the capital Bamako, military officials told the AP. But around 125 people were still in the clutches of the gunmen.
"The hotel is locked down and there is no possibility to go out or come in," a spokesman for Carlson Rezidor, owners of the hotel, told NBC News.
An al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group claimed credit for the bloody attack, Reuters reported. But NBC News could not immediately confirm that.
The attack came just days after the Iyad Ag Ghaly, the leader of the al Qaeda linked militant group Ansar Dine, called for attacks on France and its interests in Mali.
Shortly after the shooting started, a U.S. special forces soldier in town for a United Nations peacekeeping conference rushed to the hotel to help Malian troops move the escapees to safety, officials said.
In Washington, President Obama was monitoring the unfolding situation, the White House said.
The raid on the Radisson Blu, which is popular with foreigners and frequently used by airline crews, came a week after terrorists killed 130 people in Paris.
In response to the fresh mayhem in Mali, France announced the immediate dispatch of 50 elite counter-terrorism police to the country.
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