after a seven-hour siege, an if i recall says all hostages have now been freed from a mali hotel. ♪ hello there, i'm felicity barr, and you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up in the program. that siege has been taking place a week after the attacks in paris where the death toll has now risen to 130. e.u. ministers agree to tighten checks on people entering and leaving the border-free zone.

hello, a seven-hour armed standoff in mali's capitol appears to be coming to an end. the country's security minister says no more hostages are being held at the radisson blu hotel in bamako. 170 were originally being held. three are confirmed to have died. the gunmen went through the hotel floor by floor and room by room. a group linked to al-qaeda has claimed responsibility for the attack. ivan has been monitoring developments and joins us live. it does appear that the siege may have come to an end. >> reporter: well that's right. and as you said the siege has been going on for at least seven hours.

we know quite a number of people are involved, have been held hostage. earlier in the day, at least 80 were released or set free or escaped, still not clear whether it was the gunmen who let them go or the operation to rescue these people which involves french special forces, malians and u.n. peace keepers, with was part of the effort to get people out of this situation. it happened in probably one of the secure parts of bamako, which hasn't seen an incident like this before. and it comes out of the hills leading to paris, leading many to be concerned that there could be some kind of link, but nothing verified about who these people are, and what they want. there are claims surfacing of a link of some kind to some of the extremist groups like al-qaeda and isil. here is a short report.

>> reporter: these are pictures from inside the radisson blu hotel in bamako, where forces have been able to rescue several hostages. hours earlier several gunmen stormed the luxury hotel, keeping at least 170 guests and staff captive. >> translator: this morning at 7:00 am the radisson hotel was attacked. according to the information we have, there were two or three armed men who were able to walk into the hotel. we activated our crisis cell, including heads of military and officials from foreign affairs and the security ministry. we have also deployed on-site to cordon the hotel. >> reporter: around 80 hostages got out, but some didn't make it out alive. people have been told to stay at home, and the french government announced it would spending more special officers to help malian

forces. >> translator: we have to once again show solidarity with our friends in mali. there are many nationalities in this hotel in bamako, and i want to assure the malians that they have our full support. i want to also tell our french nationals in many mali to connect the french embassy for further information. >> reporter: the radisson hotel is popular with many airlines. turkish aircraft says its staff is inside. >> let's bring you up to date with the latest on the events happening at that hotel in bombco. live on the phone with us is a freelance journalist outside of the radisson blu. what more do you know? >> reporter: i got here right now the operation is done. all of the hostages have been freed.

so the operation is over. two gunmen were in the hotel. these are the two gunmen who attacked the hotel, and they have been shot by -- by the military during the operation. so now the hostages have been released. >> so all of the hostages as far as you understand have been released and the two gunmen who were in the hotel -- because there were reports of up to ten gunmen involved in this attack, two gunmen have been shot by security forces; is that correct? >> reporter: yes, two gunmen have been shot by the security forces. exactly -- this is the information we have. we are just outside of the hotel. we don't have any detail about if there were ten, eight, seven, or five, but the information i got was two gunmen were inside and they have been killed. >> in the last hour or so, it had gone quite quiet in the

hotel. in the last hour have you heard any gunfire or any signs that an operation was underway? >> reporter: yes, 14 minutes ago, the french military with the malian government groups were operating inside. so you can clearly hear from them the gunshot happening there. so after the gunshots, they were coming -- the military -- the french troops and the malian government troops they are coming out of the hotel right now, and you can clearly see them. they are coming, and briti establishing security of the rest of the zone. >> are there any thoughts of any more attackers being inside the hotel? >> reporter: excuse me? >> i was just wondering, do you know whether they fear there

might still be some other gunmen inside the hotel? >> reporter: [ inaudible ] security [ inaudible ] telling me there is no one inside the hotel. all of the hotel is in security, under the french and malian troops, and they have been checking the rest of the hotel to see if there is someone hiding somewhere. this is the last news i heard. >> as far as you know, was it malian forces and french forces who had gone into the hotel? >> reporter: yes, malian forces, french forces, and the u.n. peace-keeping forces too. >> there must have been a huge number of security personnel outside of the hotel and going into the hotel. tell us what you actually saw. >> reporter: exactly. there is so many security

outside the hotel. maybe more than 100, maybe 200. i cannot tell you exactly how many there are. >> and the hostages who managed to get out of the hotel, were they freed by the security forces or did they manage to escape on their own? >> reporter: some -- some of them managed to get out of the hotel, by -- by themselves. but the rest of the hostages have been released by the special forces, the forces who attacked the hotel and shot down the gunmen. >> and have you been able to find out anymore about the people, the ordinary people who may have died in this attack? earlier we were reporting that three people died when the gunmen burst into the radisson blu, is that still the figure? >> reporter: exactly, the last figu

figure there were three who have been killed up to 15 to 17. so i have to be sure about that. this is -- this is -- the hotel agency told me the man he saw that have been killed is about 15 to 17. >> and is there now much more of a sense of calm outside of the hotel? i can imagine it has been a very chaotic seven hours for everyone monitoring the situation. >> reporter: sorry? >> i was saying, is there now a sense of calm outside of the hotel? because earlier, of course, it would have been a sense of confusion. do you feel things are now calm? >> reporter: hello. >> hello, can you still hear me? >> reporter: hello. >> hi, can you still hear me. >> reporter: hello? >> i think we may have lost our

line to our freelance journalist operating there, outside of the radisson blu hotel in bamako. just to recap, the seven-hour standoff has ended. it is reported that malian and french forces went into the hotel, but all of the remaining hostages have our now either freed themselves or been freed by the security forces, and that two gunmen in the hotel were shot dead by security forces as they went in. we have no independent confirmation of that. obviously all of the information coming out of bombco at the moment is subject to a little bit of conclusion, but it does appear the siege at the radisson blu hotel in bamako, the capitol of mali is now over. we believe three civilians were killed in the attack, and that two gunmen have been killed when security forces went in to the hotel. our correspondent ivan is

monitoring developments for us from nigeria's capitol. and we're getting much more of a sense of what has been happening in that hotel. interesting they are talking about only two gunmen, because there were reports of up to ten. >> reporter: up to 15. i have been following this situation since it unfolded around seven, eight hours ago. we got the call about something taking place at the hotel. the hotel owners, a u.s.-based company, said that according to their eyewitnesses -- meaning their staff inside the hotel, that there were two gunmen. that later became ten to fifteen, and that was coming from security forces speaking off of the record, unusually, and some eyewitnesses, so clearly some confusion about whether it was two or ten or fifteen involved. and from what i heard the

freelance journalist who has been reporting from outside of the hotel, what is ongoing is a proper sweep, a proper check of the hotel to make sure there are no gunmen hiding, and to make sure that nobody has escaped. he also talked about the fact that it now appears that at least two gunmen have been killed. he said that they had been shot, and he believed that they were dead, but, again, no confirmation from the security services responsible for carrying out this operation, about the number of those killed, those who were the cause of this confusion and situation at the radisson blu hotel. but obviously it will be a huge relief to everybody who has been peeled to this story, that all of the hostages are now free. the painstaking work now, was figuring out exactly how many have been killed. we have been talking about

three. it could be more, it could be less. it's not very clear. >> i'm just going to interrupt you there, because a new line just appeared on the wire, a u.n. peace keeper on the scene is reporting, this is coming in on the wire service, that u.n. piece keepers on the scene, said they saw around 27 bodies. so it really is in the early stages of assessing exactly what has gone on inside the hotel. >> reporter: well, that's right. and if that was accurate, that would be a huge concern. i read just a few minutes before going on air, that one news agency were reporting 18 bodies. again, not clear. when you think about some point in the day we were talking about some 170 or so people potentially in the hotel. 80 were freed, escaped, got

away, leaving at least 70, and, you know, it is obviously going to be a big concern, and likely that this could be accurate, simply because of the number of people who -- who were involved, and that's why it is so important for the security services to move very swiftly to try to figure out exactly how many gunmen were involved or are involved. obviously the situation has de-escalated massively. the freelance journalist who has been telling us what is going on on the ground, says that, you know, security forces and services are in complete control of the radisson blu. so one has to imagine that it is only a matter of time that the exact detail as to how many people may have been killed. is it three? is it 18, is it god forbid 27? how many gunmen were there? two, ten, fifteen? these are all the questions people want to know. >> indeed.

i know you'll talk to your sources to determine exactly what happened. but for the moment, ivan, thank you. ♪ and if you have just joined us, a reminder of this developing story we are following here. after african al-qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility. all of the hostages have been set free, some reports say three people were killed another report saying up to 27. let's go now to france to the french capitol paris to speak to andrew simmons. andrew, hugely important country to france is mali. what has been the french involvement in this siege? because we know french forces were on the ground.

>> reporter: from the very outset, president francois hollande ordered his forces into action, special forces on the ground, part of the much larger force over the whole of west africa, counter terrorism forces, dating back to january 2013 when france was requested by the malian government to help in trying to regain territory in the north taken by insurgents. there is still a large presence of french troops in mali, and the special forces were heavily proactive in bringing this siege to some sort of end. now a lot of confusion, as ivan idegay, was reports. but no one is sure of how many special french forces were

involved. but we have confirmation that a belgian diplomat has been killed. he died in the radisson blu hotel. all french officials and diplomats know this hotel extremely well. it has always been regarded as the safest hotel in bamako, but of course, the difficulty with this hotel, it has very high walls in the back, and a swimming pool. it's very hard to escape from the rear. but 12 air crew from air france managed to get out. they are said to be safe and sound. air france grounding all air operations to mali. daily flights have been canceled.

francois hollande as you heard in ivan's report, said he wanted to reach out tamalians with solidarity. a president who's still shocked at the situation here exactly one peek ago. the grim, wet city, it was a week ago, and later at night that changed france -- well, some people feel it has changed france for good in that such a level of tragedy befalling the country. such awful death. there are now 130 victims, another person has died, only on thursday, the french prime minister did say that he sent out his commiserations to

malians and what happened. and he was taking all necessary action solve the actions in mali. and he said that france would carry on and win. basically it was fighting talk. and this relates to not only their actions in west africa, but also in syria, and developments, of course, in the crisis here over the attacks on friday. now it's known that three attackers died -- or suspected attackers died in that raid in saint-denis on wednesday. three died and one of them was europe's first suicide bomber, and of course, abdelhamid abaaoud was killed. he is known to be the ringleader, and now questions persist, they are not going

away -- questions persist about failures in intelligence, and the prime minister had -- actually had to admit that he knew nothing -- france knew nothing about abdelhamid abaaoud's presence in europe, even though another intelligence agency outside of europe had known he had been in greece. there are reports of him being in germany, in greece. there have been at least two visits to syria made by him. the americans had also alerted other countries, but allegedly not france -- it's not clear or confirmed that this happened -- but there are suggestions that american intelligence that abdelhamid abaaoud was a prime suspect for organizing attacks in europe for isil. but the french say they are not happy with the -- the actual handling of this intelligence. so the situation has become very

tense after a week of utter misery, mourning, and fear here. it isn't going away. it's going to take a lot more than the death of one man or three people, including a woman, to actually allay the fears of the french people. >> for the moment, andrew simmons, thank you. and i just want to update you on the line i brought you a few moments ago. reuters news agency is now quoting a u.n. peace-keeping source, saying that u.n. peace keepers saw 27 bodies on four separate floors of the radisson blu, 12 in the basement and another 15 on the second floor. in that is being attributed to a u.n. official. we'll keep you undated on the situation as and when it unfolded. e.u. interior ministers are

meeting in brussel to address security on the borders. al jazeera's paul brennan is live for us now in brussels. paul, what have they been saying there? >> reporter: they have been essentially reiterating many promises and pledges and policy statements which were actually made earlier this year, back in february. but in the light of what happened in paris a week ago, the justice and interior ministers came here to brussels to demand a fast acceleration of the implementation of these proposals. the headline grabbers are of course border control, but there is going to be a beefing up of the financial investigation unit of various member states to hit the funding of these radical groups, and try to cut off the funds to the groups. there is also going to be much greater coordination between counter terror units within each of the states, but the headline

grabber is certainly the border controls. from now on, e.u. citizens who fly in from non-e.u. countries, will be checked exactly the way as e.u. citizens. previously e.u. citizens could just fly in with a cursory glance at their passport, no longer. and there will be fingerprinting and security checks for people coming into the shengan area, because of this fear that radical elements have been able to move too easily into the e.u. area, and then fan out and remain undetected. the french interior minister was here, and he said that these measures were absolutely essential. >> translator: the strengthening of external border controls, particularly in the light of the heightened terrorist threat is indispensable. we have been asking for this for a number of months, which is why

the commission has agreed to table a draft form by the end of the year so as to allow for systemic checks to be carried out on all people entering the area, including those who benefit from the freedom of movement. this is a crucial change, and once more a strong demand of france has been satisfied. the controls should be cross checked with with databases as to flag up the movement of jihadists, and there has to be a better exchange of information between states, and real time up load of databases so we can flag foreign fighters. >> reporter: the urgency of that, of course, brought into sharp focus by the paris attacks. there was a cabinet meeting of

the brussels cabinet today. and they said there was new information about the whereabouts about [ inaudible ] but the vice prime minister would not go into further details. he also said the detention of -- two people who were in a car just after the paris attacks and are being questioned and potential accomplices of the missing man. so the investigation is continuing here in brussels at the same time as the ministers were talking tough about better border controls to try to repeat any repeats of the paris attacks. >> good to get that update there. thanks, paul. let's take you back to our main story at this hour. the 7-hour siege of the radisson blu hotel in bamako. conflicting reports on the

number of victims. two gunmen are said to have been shot dead when security forces went into the hotel. in october 2011, fighters from the twareg minority began a government -- movement against the government. the saharan branch of al-qaeda moved in to capture timbuktu and other areas in the north. in june 2013, 120,000 united nations troops took over responsibility. a peace deal with the fighters broke down after a few months. with me now in the studio is jonathan, a publisher of the magazine, africa briefing. thanks so much for coming into

the studio. just give us an overview of where mali is at the moment with its government, and who controls which parts of the country? because it has been a complex situation. >> the situation is indeed complex, and it appears that despite the deal that was reached a few years ago when the twarig, and separatists, and the [ inaudible ] in the south, it still looks a bit fragile. and peace, hasn't, you know, reigned as everybody expected it to be. okay? we musn't forget the current president was elected not very long ago, right? so he is yet to maybe stamp his complete authority over the country. so [ inaudible ] peace agenda to keep the country as one. >> he has been relying evilly on

u.n. forces, for example? >> yes, he has been. u.n. forces -- in fact it was the french troops that helped to quell the twareg-lead rebellion in the north. there was a coup d'etat about two years ago. >> they couldn't do it -- >> no, no, they don't. >> they didn't have the will power or the force to do it. >> no, so they rely a lot on the u.n. and support from france. >> with regard to this attack, the only claim of responsibility so far as been made, came from

al-murabatune. one of our correspondent says this is a divided group which has claimed responsibility. part of the group is loyal to al-qaeda, and part of it is now loyal to isil. that's interesting, because we haven't really heard a great deal of isil in mali, have we? >> no, we haven't. and this group is actually an al-qaeda affiliate. >> yeah. >> and al-qaeda -- isis is an offshoot of al-qaeda. the current leader of al-qaeda, and the leader of isis, and when there are offshoots within these groups, there is a battle for supremacy. one tries to out do the other. so what has happened in paris

last week, must have egged -- encouraged this group to launch the scene it did today. to prove their supremacy over the other. >> thank you very much indeed for your analysis of the situation. and still to come on the program, argentina prepares to vote in its first-ever presidential runoff. new zealand will vote for what could become their new flag. ♪