Fifty elite armed French police officers are poised to head to Bamako today after Islamist gunmen attacked the luxury Radisson Blu hotel and took hostages in the Malian capital Bamako, a gendarmerie spokesman said.
The police officers will advise and support Malian security forces, an interior ministry spokesman said accordng to Reuters.
The men are mostly from France's National Gendarmerie Intervention Group, an elite armed group trained to intervene in events like the attack in Bamako. Ten of the men are forensic and criminal experts.
US forces are assisting in the hotel hostage crisis in Mali's capital Bamako. They have helped move civilians to safety.
A Canadian was among the 80 hostages freed from the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, according to Canada's National Post.
The U.S. State Department has said that Americans "might be present" at the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital, Bamako where Islamist gunmen are holding scores of people hostage.
The U.S. Embassy in Mali is working to verify whether Americans are present, State Department spokesman John Kirby has tweeted,
It has emerged that U.S. citizens were among the people held hostage in the Mali hotel after Islamist gunmen stormed it this morning.
Six U.S. citizens are among the hostages who have been recovered from the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali, U.S. military spokesman Army Colonel Mark Cheadle has said, Reuters are reporting.
Cheadle also says that U.S. special forces are assisting at the hotel hostage situation.
French special forces have reached the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali, the French defense ministry says.
Al-Mourabitoun, a jihadist group affilliated with Al-Qaeda, has posted a message on Twitter saying that it was behind the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in Malian capital Bamako.
The statement has not yet been verified.
Al-Mourabitoun comprises mostly Tuaregs and Arabs from northern Mali.
Al Jazeera is reporting that Al-Mourabitoun say they carried out the attack in collaboration with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's (AQIM) Sahara Emirate. The militants are reportedly demanding the release of "mujahedin" -- jihadi fighters -- from prisons in Bamako.
Analyst and former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Ali H. Soufan comments on the breaking news that Al-Mourabitoun and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have reportedly claimed responsibilty for the Mali hotel attack.
The attack in Mali comes a week after IS militants carried out a series of coordinated attacks in Paris.
The death toll from last week's Paris attacks has risen from 129 to 130, France's Prime Minister has said.
The U.S. Embassy in Mali has released a new security message via its Facebook page.
The Embassy is advising Americans to continue "sheltering in place" and to refrain from movement around Bamako, Mali's capital.