At least 22 people, including 19 hostages and three attackers were killed in yesterday’s siege on the Radisson Blu Hotel in the Malian capital of Bamako, Malian security officials said.

The dead include a French and a Belgian national, local security sources told Anadolu Agency. Dozens of people were also injured.

Malian Minister of Security Colonel-Major Salif Traore said the gunmen holed up inside the hotel were now no longer holding any hostages.

“The attackers are still inside the hotel, [but there are] no more hostages,” Traore told reporters.

A spokesman for the hotel, however, declined to confirm or deny whether all guests and employees inside had been accounted for. “The situation is still evolving,” he said.

Earlier, Malian security forces backed by French Special Forces stormed the hotel where gunmen took 170 hostages, including Turkish Airlines and Air France crews since early morning.

Some media reports suggested that even U.S. Special Forces were “assisting” the Malian forces; however, the U.S. embassy in Bamako did not post any statement to back that claim.

Some hostages were reportedly set free after gunmen asked them to recite verses from the Quran, a local security source told Anadolu Agency.

Commander Modibo Traore Naman, spokesman of the General Directorate of State Security in Mali, told Mali's national radio that at least 10 heavily-armed assailants had attacked the hotel.

Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that the assailants included at least eight armed men and two women armed with Kalashnikov automatic rifles and hand grenades.

The siege of the hotel, which is popular with foreigners and UN staff, began at around 8.30 a.m. local time (0830GMT), local security sources said. The assailants have reportedly now entrenched themselves on the seventh floor of the hotel.

Malian forces were trying to secure the hotel floor by floor and have rescued dozens of people from the hotel’s ground and second floor, Anadolu Agency’s correspondent at the hotel said.

Assailants also injured at least five people, including a police officer, who was shot in the leg, the correspondent added.

The Al-Mourabitoun militant group, which is said to have ties with Al Qaeda, is reportedly behind the attack, according to eyewitnesses. However, the group has so far not released any statement to claim the attack.

•Photo shows troops at Radison Blu Hotel Mali after the terrorist attack.

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