After reports of an active shooter operation at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali, a Radisson media rep has confirmed that two people have taken 140 guests and 30 employees hostage.
According to CNN, there are 3 known fatalities so far; 2 Malian nationals, and 1 French national.
Reports that up to 20 hostages have been freed by security forces.
They are now reporting 10 gunmen.
It is over. 2 gunmen and 19 hostages killed, but all the other hostages were freed unharmed.
The response of the Malian special forces was very fast, and they were assisted by UN soldiers, French special forces and even some off-duty U.S. servicemen that were in the area.
It seems that the standard reaction in these cases is becoming “act decisively and immediately”, possibly because it is becoming clear that the people caught in such a situation are not hostages in the standard meaning of the term (used to bargain for whatever concessions the attackers want, so that negotiations can be made), but just victims to be led to the slaughter in order to create as big a body-count as possible.
19 dead hostages is really bad – but it could have been so much worse that (weird as it seems) I feel almost “relief” in the face of it.
The number of attackers is disputed.
Interesting fact – among the dead are three Chinese nationals. Another Chinese national who was prisoner of Daesh was killed the other day. If I am not wrong (feel free to correct me) this is the first time that Chinese citizens have been killed outside China in this conflict.
I wonder how the Chinese government will react.
But, anyway – this could have been so much worse… I am almost sort of glad that it ended how it did.
Wait a minute . . . … theres a Radisson in Mali???
Last night China voted in favour of the French UNSC resolution allowing for the removal of IS from Syria and Iraq…
There’s a Radisson at Longyearben on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. They’re everywhere!
Yep. There’s even one down the road from my church in Beijing!
Bamako attracts a lot of NGO outfits. When we lived there back in the 90s, there wasn’t a hotel that you’d want to stay in, so the place has modernized somewhat, but it’s a very poor part of the world.
Terrifying. I travel with work and I could have very easily been there.
It’s very sad. Mali is a spectacular country, just a very special place. I traveled freely and safely there not too many years ago. My heart breaks for what this unrest is doing to Malians, who already have enough problems as is.
Yeah, the good old days when there were only the occasional Tuareg issues way up north. We never felt threatened, whether driving or walking, and traveled to Mopti, Segou and Bandiagara. My wife took a trip up to Timbuktu with another woman and had zero problems. The availability of weapons has turned the place into a dicey proposition.
A close friend from high school posted on FB this morning that his neighbor is the American victim. She was the mom to his small son’s best friend, and she helped teach his son how to ride a bike this summer. 