At least one person has died after gunmen stormed a hotel in an apparent attempt to kidnap Western hotel guests. Malian troops are surrounding the Byblos hotel in the desert town of Sevare in the Mopti region of the country, about 370 miles north of the capital Bamako, military sources said.
At least five foreigners - three South Africans, a French national and a Ukrainian - were booked into the hotel, sources claim. 'The Fama (Malian armed forces) have sealed off the area... and the operation is still going on,' one military source said, adding that a body could be seen lying in front of the building.
A resident added: 'We still don't know if the terrorists have been arrested. According to our information, they tried to kidnap Westerners but they didn't succeed.' Another resident said she was woken on Friday morning by the sound of gunshots.
'The shooting is still going on but I don't know who is shooting,' she said. Initial reports said the assault targeted another hotel, the Debo, but the military source in Gao, the main town in northern Mali, said it was the Byblos that had come under attack.
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