Mali Hotel Attack LIVE: Gunmen storm Bamako Radisson Blu leaving many dead and taking 170 hostage

Gunmen have taken 170 people hostage inside the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali's capital, Bamako, with at least three deaths reported.The hotel chain said two armed men have locked in 140 guests and 30 employees.

The men came in a diplomatic vehicle Friday morning, firing as they entered the hotel, said witness Amadou Keita, who works at a cultural center close by.The gunshots went on for several long minutes, he said.

Two Malian nationals and a French national have died, a U.N. official said without elaborating.Malian soldiers with help from U.N. troops have the hotel surrounded. They were able to free a few hostages,Among them were thee U.N. staff members. It's unknown how many other staffers remain inside.No group immediately claimed responsibility for the incident.

French RFI radio reported that three attackers arrived with diplomatic cars and started shooting in the hotel's gardens before entering the building. An unconfirmed number of guards, clients and employers were allegedly killed in the shooting according to Jeune Afrique news site.

AFP reports that the attack happened on the seventh floor of the hotel, which has a capacity of 190 rooms and hosts many foreigners. "Jihadists are firing in the corridor," their source said.

A spokesperson for the Carlson Rezidor group, which runs the hotel, said that gunmen took at least 170 people hostage at the hotel. "They have locked in about 140 guests and about 30 employees. So the hotel is locked down and there is no possibility to go out or come in." The hotel management is working to establish the names and nationalities of those caught in the hostage situation.

The timing of the attack is troubling because it comes just a day after French President Francois Hollande praised his troops for successfully fighting Islamists in the African nation.

"France is leading this war with its armed forced, its soldiers, its courage. It must carry out this war with its allies, its partners giving us all the means available, as we did in Mali, as we are going to continue in Iraq, as we'll continue in Syria," he said.

Mali is a former French colony.

At Mali's request, France launched an offensive in 2013 after radical Islamists seized the strategic town of Konna in the former French colony.

The ground and air campaign sent Islamist fighters who had seized the northern region fleeing into the vast desert.

There are no French troops stations in Bamako right now, the French army said.

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