Updated

Bamako (Mali)/New delhi, Nov 21 (AFP/PTI/DHNS): Armed Islamic extremists on Friday stormed a deluxe hotel here locking in 170 people, killing at least 27 of them, while 20 captured Indians were evacuated without any harm.

Nine hours after the siege of the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali’s capital by extremists in a hail of fire from automatic guns, the country’s Security Minister Salif Traore announced the end of the hostage crisis after two gunmen were killed by the security forces.

“They currently have no more hostages in their hands and forces are in the process of tracking them down,” Traore told a news conference after the stand off.

French special forces from the neighbouring Burkina Faso were in the hotel and “participating in operations alongside Malians”, sources said.

A week after Paris attacks

The incident came a week after the deadly terror attack in Paris. Though there was no direct link between the two incidents, Mali has been at the centre of French military operations against Islamists in North Africa.

India’s Ambassador to Mali Ajay Sharma conveyed to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi on Thursday evening that all 20 Indians among the hostages were rescued by the personnel of the special forces of Mali.

Sharma was in touch with the Indian hostages over phone all through the day.

“Good news! All 20 Indians in the hotel in Bamako have been safely evacuated. Our Ambassador in Mali has confirmed,” Vikas Swarup, official spokesperson of the MEA, posted on Twitter. The Embassy of India in Bamako was also in touch with Mali Government. Employees of a Dubai-based company, these Indians were staying in the hotel permanently, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in New Delhi.

Mali’s north fell under the control of Tuareg rebels and jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda in mid-2012 before they were beaten back by a French-led operation in early 2013.

As the drama in Bamako was unfolding, EU ministers agreed at an emergency meeting in Brussels to tighten border controls after the Paris massacre which was orchestrated by a jihadist who travelled between Syria and France.

Prosecutors in Paris also confirmed that three people had died at a house in a north Paris suburb used as a hideout by suspected attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, including him and his female cousin.

Abaaoud, a Belgian of Moroccan origin, and cousin Hasna Aitboulahcen were killed in an assault by anti-terror police on Wednesday. The identity of the third body has not been disclosed.

Gunmen entered the 190-room hotel compound at around 07.00 GMT (12.30 IST) in a car with diplomatic plates and automatic gunfire was heard from outside, security sources said. Earlier, the hotel’s owner, the Rezidor Hotel Group, said 138 people were still inside, with employees of the French and Turkish national airlines as well as Chinese among known to be those staying there.

Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who is in Chad for a summit of leaders from the Sahel region, is cutting his trip short and flying home, the presidency said.

Around 40 officers from an elite French unit of paramilitary police specialised in hostage situations also reached Mali to assist in the operation.

The US embassy in Mali advised American citizens in the country to remain where they were, contact their families and monitor local media.