Mali's Hotel Attack: Terrorists Free Those Who Could Recite The Quran (Video, Pictures)

Jihadists kill three as they go 'floor to floor'
screaming 'Allahu Akbar' during AK-47
rampage at Mali hotel and take 170 hostages
before freeing those who could recite the
Koran
*Radison Blu hotel under attack by jihadists
armed with AK-47s and hand grenades in
Malian capital of Bamako
*Up to 10 gunmen have taken dozens of
hostages inside the Radisson hotel while 80
people have escaped unharmed
*Gunmen spoke in English and tested
hostages' knowledge of the Koran before
allowing Muslim hostages to leave
*U.S. government employees are reportedly
among the terrified hostages trapped inside
the Radisson Blu hotel
*US Special Forces lead elite operation to clear
the building one floor at a time amid deadly
hostage crisis
*At least three people have been killed
including one French national and US embassy
have urged American nationals to 'shelter in
place' from attack
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Armed jihadists have killed at least three people in
a deadly shooting rampage and taken 170
hostages at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako,
Mali.
Automatic weapons fire has been heard on the
seventh floor of the 190-room hotel, where it is
thought as many as 10 militants have been going
floor to floor and taken 140 guests and 30
members of staff hostage.
Witnesses described how the gunmen allowed
around 20 hostages to leave safely after they
proved they were able to recite verses of the
Koran to the militants. US and French Special
Forces have reportedly stormed the hotel and
have began to clear the building one floor at a
time.
No group has claimed responsibility for the hotel
attack, which is frequently used by Air France
crew, although Al Qaeda affiliated militants have
previously carried out attacks in Mali.
Two Malians and one French national have been
killed while two workers for Turkish Airlines and
10 Chinese nationals are thought to be among the
hostages.
12 members of the Air France crew have been
released from the hotel following a raid by Malian
special forces while five other Turkish Airlines
employees have managed to escape from the
hotel, Turkish officials confirmed.
'The whole of the Air France team is now in a safe
place,' an Air France statement said, indicating it
was in 'constant contact' with its team of two pilots
and 10 cabin crew members.
US Special Forces have reportedly been assisting
with the rescue operation to clear the building of
hostages and take out the armed jihadis.
The French intelligence service has also been
providing invaluable logistical support for the
operation and have confirmed they have
dispatched a unit of special forces to Bamako.
The Rezidor Hotel Group confirmed it is 'aware of
the hostage-taking that is ongoing at the property
today.'
'As per our information, two persons have locked
in 140 guests and 30 employees,' the statement
said.
'Our safety and security teams and our corporate
team are in constant contact with the local
authorities in order to offer any support possible
to re-instate safety and security at the hotel,' it
added.
The US embassy in Bamako has urged embassy
staff to seek cover from the attack, tweeting that
all Americans in Mali should 'shelter in place'.
Malian Special Forces have been seen outside the
hotel and are assessing the situation while
France's national security service have confirmed
that about 40 members of the French National
Gendarmerie Intervention Group are en route to
Bamako.
A spokesman for the service said they are heading
from two different units of special police forces
trained for emergency situations. British Special
Forces are in Mali and also expected to head
towards Bamako to help with the terror operation.
Michael Skapoullis, who escaped the besieged
hotel today, told the BBC: 'We live in a complex
near the Radisson hotel. Every day I go to the
[Radisson] gym from 6 to 8 in th emorning.
'Today, after 7-ish, it was extremely quiet, there
were two people inside the gym. They left and I
was a bit worried.
'We had the music on all the time at the gym so I
didn't hear any gunshots. I left the gym and I tried
to go in the lobby.
'I opened the lobby door slowly, slowly, and I saw
bullets on the ground. So I closed the door of the
lobby and I went door to door, I went back in the
gym, and from the gym I left the hotel.
'Outside the hotel, there were police and military
crew who escorted me and brought me to my
house.'
The horrific terror attacks comes just a few days
after ISIS gunmen massacred 129 people on the
streets of Paris.
Suicide bombers targeted the Stade de France,
cafes and restaurants as well as taking dozens of
hostages at a death metal concert at the Bataclan
theatre.
The co-ordinated attack was later claimed by ISIS,
leading to a mass police hunt for one of the
surviving gunmen and the ringleader of the deadly
attack.
Fears remain that the attack in Bamako may be
linked or inspired by the Paris attack, where
French nationals were targeted for the
government's decision to carry out air strikes
against ISIS.
French president Francois Hollande says France is
ready to help Mali with all means necessary in the
wake of the hotel attack in the capital, Bamako.
Hollande asks all French citizens in Mali to make
contact with the French Embassy there 'in order
that everything is made to offer them protection.'
'We should yet again stand firm and show our
solidarity with a friendly country, Mali,' Mr
Hollande said in a short statement.
In Belgium, Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said
there were four Belgians registered at the attacked
hotel but it's unclear if they were taken hostage by
the gunmen or not.
Reynders also said there are '15 hostages who
have been freed after an intervention' but didn't
provide more details.
In response to the terror attack in Bamako, Mali's
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has cut short its
tip to Chad where he was attending a meeting of
regional leaders.
The Mali presidency said on Twitter that Mr Keita
will be back to Bamako 'in the next hours'.
Mali, a former colony of France, has been battling
several terror groups, predominantly located in
the north of the country.
French special forces have been assisting the
Malian army in their long standing counter-
terrorism operation against militants from Ansar
ad-Din, al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and Tuareg
rebels.
The shooting in Mali follows a nearly 24-hour
siege and hostage-taking at another hotel in
August in the central Malian town of Sevare.
Four soldiers, five UN workers and four attackers
were killed in the deadly attack, thought to have
been carried out by Al-Qaeda linked militants.
Islamist groups have been waging attacks in Mali
despite a June peace deal between former Tuareg
rebels in the north of the country and rival pro-
government armed groups.
Northern Mali fell in March-April 2012 to Al-
Qaeda-linked jihadist groups long concentrated in
the area before being ousted by an ongoing
French-led military operation launched in January
2013.
Despite the peace deal, large swathes of Mali
remain beyond the control of government and
foreign forces.
.