Gunmen 'storm hotel in Mali capital'

Militants have reportedly attacked a hotel in the capital of Mali, throwing grenades and firing automatic weapons, with the US embassy advising American residents to "shelter in place".

The AFP news agency reported that the gunmen were holding at least 170 people at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako. 

Automatic weapons fire could be heard from outside the 190-room hotel, the agency reported.

Security sources told AFP that the gunmen were "jihadists" who had entered the hotel compound in a car that had diplomatic plates.

"It's all happening on the seventh floor, jihadists are firing in the corridor," one unnamed source told AFP.

Malian soldiers, police and special forces were outside the hotel, along with members of the UN's MINUSMA force.

The US embassy in Bamako said on Twitter that it was "aware of an ongoing active shooter operation at the Radisson hotel".

Rezidor, the hotel's parent company, said in a statement that two people had "locked in" 140 guests and 30 staff.

The Reuters news agency however reported a security source as saying up to 10 attackers were using guns and grenades.

Radisson Blu Bamako is popular with UN staff, Air France flight crew and Chinese businessmen. Chinese state media reported that a number of its citizens had been taken hostage.

Mali is a former French colony. Following a military coup in 2012, al-Qaeda-linked fighters took control of the north of the country, prompting a French-led military intervention in early 2013.

The militants were scattered from northern towns and cities, though the north remains insecure and militant attacks have extended further south this year. 

Militant groups have continued to wage attacks in Mali despite a June peace deal between former Tuareg rebels in the north of the country and rival pro-government armed groups.

The shooting at the Radisson follows a nearly 24-hour siege and hostage-taking at another hotel in August in the central Malian 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 attack at a restaurant in Bamako in March in the first such incident in the capital.