After Radisson Blu hotel terror attacks kill 27 civilians, 10-day state of emergency declared in Mali

Following the deadly terrorist attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in the capital Bamako here, the government has declared a 10-day nationwide state of emergency in Mali.

Mali's Security Minister Salif Traore reportedly confirmed that 170 people taken hostage on Friday at the Radisson Blu hotel, had been rescued and the gunmen no longer have any hostages.

"They currently have no more hostages in their hands and forces are in the process of tracking them down," AFP quoted Security Minister Traore as saying at a press conference.

Earlier, military forces had stormed into the Radisson Blu hotel to rescue the hostages.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed that all 20 Indians among the hostages were among those safely evacuated.

The identities of the armed gunmen in Radisson hotel is yet to be ascertained. Some reporters say that they are affiliated to an Islamic Extremist Organisation while some say that they are fluent in English.

Malian soldiers, police and special forces were at the scene soon after the attack began, along with members of the UN's MINUSMA peacekeeping force in Mali and French troops deployed in west Africa under Operation Barkhane.

France has more than 1,000 troops in its former colony, a key battleground of the Barkhane counter-terror mission spanning five countries in Africa's restive Sahel region.

The attack follows a hotel siege in August in the central Mali town of Sevare in which five UN workers were killed along with four soldiers and four attackers.

Five people, including a French citizen and a Belgian, were also killed in an assault on a Bamako restaurant in March, the first of its kind in the city.

Northern Mali fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.

The Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

But large swathes of Mali remain lawless and prone to attacks.

-With agency inputs