Mali hotel gunmen holding no more hostages: govt

18 bodies recovered from Mali hotel siege carried out by an Al Qaeda-affiliated African jihadist group

Gunmen who stormed a luxury hotel in Mali's capital today and seized more than 100 guests and staff no longer have any hostages after a rescue operation by special forces, the government said.

"They currently have no more hostages in their hands and forces are in the process of tracking them down," security minister Salif Traore told a news conference following a stand-off of several hours at Bamako's Radisson Blu. An Al Qaeda-affiliated African jihadist group 'al Mourabitoun' claimed responsibility for the attack.

The bodies of 18 people were recovered as special forces stormed a hotel in Mali's capital seized by gunmen on Friday, a foreign security source said.

"Eighteen bodies were found," the source told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that French special forces from neighbouring Burkina Faso were in the hotel and "participating in operations alongside Malians".

French special forces were deployed at the luxury hotel in the Malian capital Bamako to assist in ending a mass hostage-taking, the French defence ministry said today.

"In response to the request from the Malian authorities, Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian decided to send a unit of French special forces," the ministry said, adding they had come in from Burkina Faso.

The units were "in place from 2:00 pm French time (1300 GMT)", the ministry said.

US special forces are also involved in the operation at the Radisson Blu hotel and have rescued at least six Americans, a US military spokesman said.

Gunmen had seized 170 guests and staff including many foreigners in a hail of automatic gunfire, exactly a week after the deadly jihadist rampage in Paris.