not the other way around. nicole: breaking news this morning. witnesses say gun man launched an attack on the radisson blue hotel in the cap capital of mali. >> i'm gerri willis. they confirm the incident, one or more shooters are firing allegedly trying to take hostages. the hotel group that runs hotel. says 110 hostages have been taken. embassy reports explosions and hostages. they say the hostage-takers are muslim jihadists. police are on the scene and ceiling the area off. the hotel popular with expats

working in mali. nicole: we'll delve into this. we're going on this developing story. fox news terrorism expert, walid phares joins us this morning. what can you tell us on this latest development? >> basically the early information you covered. the information in mali a few years ago, tells us this is most likely the jihadly organization but we don't know which. northern mali is basically inhabited by a different ethnicity. the took over empire is the was linked then to al qaeda. that was a couple years before the rise of isis. later on that organization shifted its affiliation to isis. this is happening in 'bama co,

the capital. or are the jihadists operating in bamako in the other part of the country? al qaeda in africa that boko haram in nigeria and other organizations have inside of that area. certainly from what we heard so far, this is hostage taking operation. which means it is different from what happened in paris and in terms of going into a different -- cheryl: walid, let me break in here for a second. we'll listen to sky news. >> according to some reports they made their way to the 7th floor of the hotel they took hostage 140 guests and 30

staff. sounds like they corralled the guests on the seventh floor and locked them into room. there are between two and 10 gunmen on the seventh floor, if that is correct in hostage situation. a security cordon has been placed around the hotel. what is causing a lot of concern, connection between mali and france and attackses in paris. there are french troops there. there are obviously a number of french business people doing business there. the kind of hotel they would stay, according to some local reports. this floor, the french newspapers, the 7th floor of this hotel is where air france air crews stay when they're staying at the hotel. there are other reports saying there could be air crew from air france involved in the hostage numbers but also french dignitaries, possibly military officials.

i didn't mean dignitaries, i meant french business people, connected with a french company. so i think there are connections with france which will be causing a lot of concern because of timing of this attack. having said that there are any number of islamist groups with connections to the islamic state would have a grievance and would attack this hotel. >> security situation in bamako on on whole, very up and down, changes month to month. we're looking how the military might deal with this. this is not in your area of expertise, how well-placed do you think they may be to try to contend with such a massive security operation? 170 hostages, possibly up to 10 gunmen? >> the point has been passed where they could have stopped this. on going situation on the seventh floor on this hotel that

would be hard to deal with. they have been unable to anticipate this. the gunmen were able to hit into the hotel. we were told two security guards were possibly injured or killed. they now seem to have control of at least part of this hotel. >> we're hearing on reuters news agency the government actually freed some of those hostages. they report those that were freed were able to recite verses of koran. this is coming to us from security sources which would suggest islamist militants are behind this. >> that is the most likely explanation. the hotel group says they have had no contact made any group responsible for this. there is no claim of responsibility. but there are at least four islamist groups operating in mali, which is volatile, unstable country. it has had a history of coups and islamist uprisings that has drawn u.n. peacekeeping forces, particularly the french since 2013, 2014. a number of french are still

there. in may they killed two al qaeda commanders. al qaeda would have particular grievance with the french if there are french people in this hotel. if air france does stay there that makes it a target for a number of islamist groups. so islamist connection is most likely explanation. the big question is which group is it? does it have a direct connection with the islamic state? is it connected to the attacks in paris because if it is we could see more of these kind of attacks what is clearly a very soft target, in particularly unprotected, unstable part of africa. >> as you said, dominic, some french troops in the country, 1000 total. the suggestion may be they may get involved with helping mali security forces? >> french civilian citizens and nationals involved among the hostages the french will be getting involved directly. what is causing a lot of concern, the report they are amongst the french military

could being amongst the hostages according to one local journalist, maulian journalist. he is that is what is being reported on the ground. this situation remains ongoing. what we can say for sure 140 guests of the hotel, 30 staff have been taken hostage in the hotel. at the moment the mali security forces are trying to get it under control. they form ad cordon. received any hostages released by hostage-takers. american and french embassies will be getting involved, taking a close interest in this. the u.s. embassy has ordered its staff to take cover, stay in place. haven't heard from the french torts yet. but as you say they will take a very close interest what is going on. >> we're hearing that the malian

security forces escorted two women from the hotel in bamako, another agency report ad few minutes ago, the gunman released a few hostageses that cited verses of koran. this operation is not designed to kill all the hostages as we saw in paris friday last week, indiscriminate attack. no one was allowed to plea for their lives in any way, shape or form. this looks like a very different operation where hostages were allowed to go. >> except for the bataclan theater, what the motivations of the gunmen that went into the theater. they shot a lot of people but had suicide bombs. but whether they had a hot damage situation they could prolong for a long period of time before they ignited suicide bombs is not clear and how the security forces going into the theater precipitated that

explosion is not clear. seems like the situation in mali, we have a small number of gunmen taking hostages, not killing anybody it seems. their aim seems to be to create a hostage-taking situation, which traditionally for terrorists is to cause maximum amount of global attention, to focus attention on your cause. so far we don't know what cause they're doing this for and which group is behind the attack. gerri: you were listening to our sister network, sky news there, describing the scene on the ground there. back with us now, fox news terrorism expert wall heat pharis. walid, quick question here, i don't think a lot of people really understand that mali is former french colony and that could be the reason for its attack. tell us more about that. >> mali was actually created by the french cone y'all powers, and very recently in the 20th century. the problem that they are two major ethnicities which are against each other.

ones in the north and the ones in south are black africans. the first uprising by jihadists from 2012 was in the north. so this begs the question who is the group operating in the south? it would be very difficult to imagine they are coming from the north. which raises issues of local celling probably linked to isis. but this has to be confirmed. the other point i may say quickly from what we heard from sky news, they have invited them, asked the terrorists, alleged terrorists, asked hostages to recite from the koran. those that were able to do so were freed. this reminds us what happened in kenya last year or beginning of this year where there was a similar situation. but that does not guarranty that at the end there won't be violence against the hostages. nicole: what does that tell you though? sorry, walid, to interrupt. what does that tell you if they're basically saying to

these hostages if you're able to cite the verses of koran, you may go free? what does that tell you about who may be the gunmen? we're talking rifles and grenades. this is very intense ongoing operation right now. what does that tell you what group this may be in particular because nobody's claimed responsibility? >> well will see. usually after the operation is stablized and they're able to communicate with the outside world we'll see if they have this capacity and broadcast via video, via iphone or media. they will have to. when you do a operation of that sophisticated the end of it, aim of it is to share who they are and what they want. most likely we'll know already from the, you know, the way they conducted themselves, they are jihadis. the question are they jihadis connected debtly to isis and al qaeda? this is something we'll have to wait for. gerri: absolutely. walid, as you look at the situation unfolding, tell me,

you talked about the possibility of islamist terrorists, would other french colonies be at risk here? do you expect this to spread further? >> i think that now observers are looking at the global situation after the attack in paris obviously. the first attack, massive attack on the 13th and the follow-up clash. and issues of threatening new york, washington, many cities here. this is happening in west africa. the first reaction that would tell you it is connected, it is global. it is isis trying to deter the french first and with them obviously the americans and other western powers from continuing the strikes in syria and iraq. it is all connected all the way to the center of the action in syria and iraq. nicole: walid phares, our

fox news terrorism expert. this has been breaking news over the last hour or so. 110 hostages. so the gunmen have freed some hostages, including those able to recite verses of the koran. gunmen launched a attack on the radisson blu hotel in the center of bamako. this is capital of mali, near nigeria and ghana. french embassy asked their citizens to take shelter in bamako. we heard from sky news, u.s. embassy is staying put and taking shelter. as many as 10 gunmen stormed the building. we heard of rifles and grenades and hostages being let go if they were able to recite the koran. gerri: this is fast moving story. we'll have details out of breaking news out of mali where 170 people are being held hostage out of ad ad son hotel.

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you have the opportunity to say, "i've been part of the creation of over 27,000 units of housing," and to replicate this across the entire african continent. gerri: we're following this breaking news story out of mali where gunmen have freed some hostages. they have taken 170. they're freeing people on the basis of being able to recite verses of the koran. they're in the blu hotel in bamako in mali. that is the capital. as many as 10 gunmen stormed the building. u.s. and french embassies are asking their citizens to take shelter in bamako. at least two private security guards reportedly hurt. nicole: we'll keep you up-to-date on this. we're going over to paris. france's police chief says whereabouts in the key suspect

in the paris attacks remains unclear. french police stopped salam abdeslam lam the morning of the attacks at the belgian border but let him go. ashley webster is in paris with the very latest on that. ashley? reporter: another security lapse, nicole. another surprise that the ringleader or orchestrator of these attacks was in france at all. they believed he was in syria. there are problems with surveillance when tracking whereabouts of these terrorists of the was one week ago today that those attacks were launched here in paris on friday evening. today the weather is it's cold, it's wet, it's miserable. it matches the somber mood of parisians as they go about their life. there is going to be a scheduled observation if you like tonight at 9:20. people in paris and france are

being asked to put on their lights, light candles, make noise, play music to denote the exact time those attacks were launched at 9:20 one week ago that claimed the lives of 129 people. as we speak there are interior and justice ministers meeting in brussels to talk about strengthening border control, stronger gun law control. we're not expecting a whole lot to come out of this. there will be a lot of talk but we do not expect anything concrete to come out of it, but we do know coordination between the european union countries has been questioned especially when it comes to tracking these terror suspects. so that's a big issue. of course we're following developments in mali. there is very much, a very strong french connection. back to you. nicole: ashley webster doing a great job there. we heard the french interior minister said there is no time to wait. countries around the world, obviously ongoing battle. thank you, ashley, so much.

let's get you caught up on global action we've been seeing here. starting off in asia, looking at shanghai composite up 1/3 of 1%. hang seng up 1%. kospi slightly lower, gerri, let's look at european stocks as they come up right now. ftse is down 11 points. cac 30 is down. red arrows. dax in germany down 17. seeing trouble here in europe as we get started. nicole: look at u.s. stock index futures. up nearly 3%. dow futures up 33. s&p has lost some of the gains there, now just up fractionally. up 3/4 of one point. we'll watch reaction from names such as gap, williams-sonoma, intuit names that reported earnings after the bell. gerri: good to see green arrows. coming up we'll have latest on breaking news out of mali where

170 people are being held hostage inside of a radisson hotel. checking stock index futures as we've been showing you, we're on a tear. up 33 points on the dow after a flat day. s&p 500 up 75. or 3/4ers of a percent. watching "fbn:am," your first look at morning markets and breaking news.

i just had a horrible nightmare. my company's entire network went down, and i was home in bed, unaware. but that would never happen. comcast business monitors my company's network 24 hours a day and calls and e-mails me if something, like this scary storm, takes it offline. so i can rest easy. what. you don't have a desk bed? don't be left in the dark. get proactive alerts 24/7. comcast business. built for business. gerri: continuing to cover the situation in mali where turkish airlines says it has six staff members inside the attacked hotel in mali's capital. sources say the gunmen in mali have freed some hostages including those able to recite verses of the koran. they launched an attack on the radisson blu hotel in the center of bamako, with i is the capital of mali.

as many as 10 gunmen stormed the building. u.s. an french embassies are asking their citizens to take shelter in bamako. at least two security guards are reportedly hurt. nicole: back with us now, we'll speaking again with our fox news terrorism expert walid phares, joining us and giving us insight. we have 170 hostages. we're hearing about rifles, grenades. this is a french colony. there may be speculation there may be some from air france. there may be also troops or some sort of military presence from france as well. is there a correlation -- and i don't want to speculate what are you hearing exactly, walid? >> we don't really need to speculate because the jihadists have already threatened the french presence in mali. if indeed the earlier report that we received that in that hotel there are first, french officials, military officials possibly and also air france crew and most likely business people from france because

france has a tremendous network of economic interests across mali. but in addition to that, i would not discount the possibility of other international business people from the west and from asia and from other places. so this is really an international group of people that the jihadists now alleged jihadists have in their hands of the rest is something we have a big question mark about. are they going to be negotiating or unfortunately use this violence afterwards for propaganda goals. gerri: walid, how many french people do we see among the hostages? what was the question exactly? gerri: walid, how many actually french people -- i understand there are some french military that are hostages and lots and lots -- we know the staff, a lot of staff of the hotel. >> yes. gerri: how many of those folks would actually be french? >> oh, there would be many french because most likely the majority of the hostages, if

this is the hotel that we know about, are from french companies. total is one company. other companies. air france has a whole floor we understood from now the wires. so the majority would be french but, let's not discount would be other than french, european, american, north americans and asians. this is where basically this part of bamako where the hotels are mostly for to take care of international community in the city. nicole: when we talk about what's going on there, you were talking about the floor, the seventh floor, i heard that may be a floor that is obviously very violent at the moment or has intensity. where do you think that now, the feeling there, taking cover, the precautions what are do we think is actually going on there at this time? >> basically from the little information that we have we can figure out a bit of scenery. it looks like the terrorists or

jihadists have seized the hotel going from the normal interests, that they have neutralized security guards most likely. they may have killed or injured some of those and went up to that floor and sealed off that floor and upwards and that floor and a few other floors below to make sure no special forces would be able to enter the hotel and kill them in the first engagement. this is more tactician experts will be addressing. they know that the french special forces that are present already in mali, with a general presence of military, french military, maybe with the support of other nato members will intervene. nicole: walid phares, thank you for all being with us here to talk about the developments in mali where the hostages are being held. gerri: sky news, our sister network has been following this story all morning long. >> expressed much concern to

everybody's silence. so for them they know that mali is one of the most problematic countries when it comes to jihad, along with libya, iraq syria. hasn't gotten much press. this is not happening in a vacuum. this country has been feeling the brunt of jihad for the past few years. so any group at this point could be behind it because of the sheer number of jihadists that are competing with one another. but isis is not in the picture right now. what we can say bamako has not been really, really targeted, the capital, for a long while. so that is a game-changer. the fact that they attacked mali through, wanting to attack the french, i think it's an overstretch, because, what i would think they would look at, is the fact that they don't get enough media exposure.

that is what you have to remember. those terror groups are after power but also media exposure. if it weren't for this hostage crisis, the western world wouldn't speak about mali. so that is one of the things that you're looking at, what al that bab has done in kenya that got them their name recognition, that is exactly same type of attack, attacking soft targets and foreigners to get media exposure. that could be any group. that could be al cade in the islamic negative greg. that could be, it is not sew fits indicated attack. if you have 10 people coming in with guns an grenades into a hotel that is not something that is very, very difficult to do especially in that area of the world. >> as you say it's not different culled to do. what is the level of intelligence there?

you said france is worried about the level of islamic extremism in mali. >> right. >> will they be involved with security operations with intelligence trying to keep french residents or international residents in the capital or the country safe? >> look a couple of things. there has been worns from different diplomats and entities in france about traveling to mali. there are travel warnings. the country is far from being safe. and they know that being there. i think what changes the dynamics is that, you know, there are actually french troops there but there are also troops around neighboring countries that are around. the french have an operation that is called -- an army operation that has 4,000 solders in the region trying to counterterrorism. so that's -- >> sorry, i didn't mean to stop you there abruptly.

we want to show some video of the scene outside of the hotel just in from somebody who isthe scene. let's take a look and listen. [background noises]

>> quickly just into us from residents of bamako. i think we saw, just, before the shot changed, either a soldier or some kind of, just behind that, truck there. not clear exactly where this is taken in relation to the hotel. we've also just got in some pictures of hostages being released. let's have a look at those. there you are. unclear, possibly a person dressed in white and third perp behind them with white trousers look like hostages may have been released there. see them more clearly. there are reports that these hostages if not these hostages but some hostages were released when asked if they could recite from the koran and they did some hearing reports that two women,

two female hostages have been released. just unclear how many people have been freed at the moment. mali security forces, i'm just reading on a news agency, have evacuated around a dozen hostages from the hotel now. still a huge number remain. 170 people taken hostage this morning. so mali security forces reporting around a dozen or so of those have been free. joining me on the phone, jeff warren, who is a risk analyst in mali just in september conducting a security review there. very good to talk to you, jeff. what was your view of security in the capital of bamako? >> yeah, good morning. bamako has got an air of relaxation about it, considering what is happening in the rest of the country, especially in the north with al qaeda. it was sort of very relaxed. >> tell us, describe what it was likes.

we've heard that this hotel, as others have been a target of terror attacks in the past, they are so-called soft targets because the security is limited. there may be one guard at the gate. i don't know if you went to hotel at all. just paint a picture what you actually saw in the capital. >> very much i went to the hotel. and you're exactly right. i saw one guard. there was up with barrier. security was very relaxed. when i was there, we had the attack on moxey. which proved that these islamic groups are willing to go into areas they have not necessarily operated in before and take western hostages. more worryingly, they were prepared to give their -- i don't necessarily subscribe to the fact this is is attack all the time i was there. we heard no affiliation of agroup with isis. the two major groups were clearly, although in opposition

would work together when -- to them. >> what was your risk assessment when you concluded it? >> for bamako, for certainly westerners to be more aware and not set patterns of the one of the things wernerers would do would frequent same bars, restaurants, hotels. therefore make themselves an easy target. one of our big things was to change their patterns of life. >> just want to update our views on the situation. france 24, reporting that three people have been killed and 15 hostages released we understand. in terms, jeff, of the security operation now, i don't know how much involvement you had and how, what you did in terms of talking to security people on the ground but what do you think will happen in terms of people coming together? french troops, malian troops, u.n. groups trying to come

together to resolve this? jeff, do we still have you? afraid we have lost jeff. he was updating us on his view of security on the ground there. indeed he had been to the same hotel to conduct a security review as well while he was there in september. the radisson blu hotel. confirmed it was like many hotels, soft target, very little in the way of security. and let's rejoin our guest here in the studio who is expert in these matters as well. olivia, you heard the news on france 24 that several hostages have been killed. >> right. looks like two mallian and one french citizens were killed. this is developing story. unfortunately that shows the resolve of terrorists. i think what is meaningful,

attack of al that bab in westgate, they supposedly cleared out muslim hostages from the siege. that is something very meaningful that we tend to see in those attacks. but what's important is that we will know very quickly if they're willing to go on with the hostage taking like in the case of mumbai or case of westgate and keep media looking at it for a die or two. or if they do like bataclan unfortunately where they had no intention of negotiating and they just wanted to kill people. we should know that and their intention very quickly unfortunately. >> yeah. unfortunately as seems to be case all too frequently in these terror attacks, all they want to do is kill people. they don't actually have any other goal other than gaining world's attention to what they're doing, the terror they're causing. >> right. in this case as i said they want

to make mali central to what's happening in africa. i think that's a couple of assessments and looking at the number of terror groups, mali was bound to have this kind of attack on westerners. >> that's a grim assessment of the situation. given that do you think that possibly was enough forethought to protecting them? >> unfortunately never enough. but as i said when it comes to the international community, there was not really an urgency about mali. was just the french jumping up and down and telling their allies mali was going to be a problem. whens it with time to intervene in 13, nobody from the your green union or -- european union came on board to keep the mali from taking over by the al qaeda.

>> mali security forces stormed the hotel. obviously not wanting to wait for the situation to play out as you thought possibly might be the case. they want to try to bring it to some kind of resolution. the danger is, danger both way, isn't it, they storm it and risk lives of those inside. they wait and risk lives those inside as well. >> i assume that they already killed three hostages, this bass a sign for them to know they didn't want to negotiate. they were bound on trying to kill everyone. so i assume that might have been one the reasons for them to to intervene so quickly. >> let's bring in dominic. we haven't had a heard from the u.k. government but american embassy warned all residents to be safe and president obama has been briefed. >> u.s. embassy ordered all the american people in bamako and mali to stay in place, a

precaution but obviously one that was well-taken. the british government so far hasn't responded to our request for information about whether any british people are thought to be amongst the hostages. they obviously will try to find out as other governments as well. foreign commonwealth government about advice mali was against all travel to number of provinces and all but essential travel to mali, very unstable country. bear in mind what group this might be, very early to say, you can't say any group claimed responsibility at moment. worth pointing out, this is similar to an attack in a town in august earlier this year where a number of people were killed, 13 people killed, a number of them u.n. workers. very similar incident where a number of gunmen walked into a hotel in safari, east of bamako, a few hundred miles, halfway to the north which is the most unstable part of mali and they took a number of people hostage and as i say, a number of people died.

that was the work of, blamed on al qaeda related, more homegrown groups which, i think points again to what we've been hearing. which is more likely to be a homegrown al qaeda group of which there are any number in mali because there is not an islamic state presence really in the country. doesn't rule out one group wanting to act in solidarity with the islamic state. most likely explanation is this is the work of a mali-based group which there are many, of which we heard any number of incidents in recent month and years. >> the ap news agency just reported security forces evacuated around a dozen hostages including two women. journalist there said that they saw three freed hostages, two women, who told him that they had seen the body of a fair-skinned man lying on floor of the hotel. we can't confirm at the moment but that is being reported by a journalist who spoke to one of the freed hostages in mali. owe live yay, we know?

terms of those nationalitywise, some air crew are in the hotel. an americans are being warned to stay away. don't know if any britains are involved. turkey says some workers from turkish airlines of the point they will make international headlines because this is international hotel. risk hotel, best hotel in bamako. not just one where foreign workers go but diplomats and local people as well. if this will affect many people in many country. >> very much so. you are putting your thing on exactly the goal of those terrorist was to put mali front and center and i think that, you know for all the chaos that has been going on in the country for

the past three years, all those different jihadist groups must feel that they don't get the exposure that they should and that the country is in shambles. the only way that they can get what they want, which is publicity and people coming to know about them is by attacking a soft target where foreigners are. and you raise a good point. the fact this hotel was also not just getting foreign tourists but also diplomats and being seen as a main focal point of the foreign community made it a target much more than others. >> okay. let's just take you through what we know so far. in fact, no, first of all i'm just going to play an interview i did earlier with a local

journalist, who is in bamako. he told us what he is knows about what is happening on the ground there. >> the hostages were on very important hotel of bamako and of course the situation is trying to be under control of armed forces and a lot of police are surrounding the hotel and right now the about 170 hostages. so, but the situation will be under control very soon we expect. >> how close are you to the hotel? tell us what you can see. >> well, yeah, you know, this is surrounding, no one, if you're not armed, you're not really there for special assignment you can't be close but we can see just next to the hotel there are so many armed forces and they're taking, kind of a step to go, to go to get into the hotel and try to free the hostage.

>> there are reports here that some of the hostages have been freed. have you heard that or seen that? >> well, this hotel has so many exits, maybe there are places right now, but i can't see that, but we also hear some but this has to be confirmed. >> what troops can you see being involved in the security operation? is there french troops, u.n. troops or is it all local security forces? do you know? >> the, they are both. we can see, it is kind of mixed forces. yeah the mixed forces, we see armed forces of mali, the uniform they're wearing and u.n. forces, we see the decal especially but not exactly the number but there is kind of a mixture.

>> conflicting reports as to how many hostages have been released. some news agencies saying seven. some people saying a dozen. there are suggestions that they people may have been killed. the u.n. is saying two malians and one french person has been killed but we haven't had verification. we had a statement from francois hollande, the french president. we do know there are several people we understand, we understand several workers from air france who were in that hotel, possibly caught up in this. francois hollande just said we're awaiting more precise information. french people are present. the president is following the situation closely. a diplomatic source also said malian special forces is at the scene and france is providing logistical and intelligence support. 1000 french troops are on the ground in mali at the moment. we understand now france is confirm they are indeed providing logistical and intelligence report. more coming up.

stay with us. nicole: gerri and i were just watching our sister station sky news. we are now getting latest developments of roughly over 100 hostages. we heard maybe seven to 10 have actually been released if they were able to recite the koran. that is what we've been watching. what we know there are at least. gerri: at least three people dead at this point. people of all nationalities are in this hotel. you were making this point as we were talking about. people from turkey. lots of french folks. joining us to discuss the developing situation at the radisson hotel in mali, matthew graham, fox news terrorism expert. good morning. >> good morning. gerri: tell us what is going on here and what do we need to do to better protect ourselves against attacks like the ones we're seeing in paris and now in mali? >> well there is a couple of things going on here on a couple of different levels. number one, obviously global

jihad is alive and growing. so there is that issue. so as we approach our holiday travel season, around the world, there is just an exigency to stay aware and stay alert of what is going on. another aspect of this going on is, whatever metrics are being used to set our threat level internationally as no credible threat aren't filtering these types of attacks out. nicole: can you actually, that would be a great point to make. you should elaborate on that, matthew, because that is a great point. that there is no imminent attacks or we're not aware of any. we're seeing attacks all over the world. there was another one in mali in august. 13 people are dead and including five u.n. workers. we had hostages and coming off of paris. what is that? we need to take it more seriously, that your point? >> i think we're taking as

seriously as we can but somewhere in the mechanism we talk about two different things. i'm a ground level operational guy, and from that standpoint with those attacks in france, let's just look at france, look now what is going on today. everybody involved in those events would say it's credible, it's happening. family members are lost. law enforcement and military are lost. those are entirely credible is true. so whatever metrics are in place aren't gathering the information, are not spotting the cells, aren't bringing these plots forward. so something needs to be addressed there because the spontaneous, the spontaneity of these acts are getting through. part of that is, nicole, the ease of these operations happen. they're not that difficult. nicole: right. >> it is not difficult to take hostages. it is not difficult to committees crimes. gerri: that is what we see over and over again. gerri willis here. you're talking about how to keep

us safe. we're at the time of the year where people get together in this country. it's thanksgiving. everybody is having family over. we're out. we're shopping, going to football games. we're going to thanksgiving day parades much what is your advice to individuals as they navigate the holiday season? >> go about your life. obviously the main key is go about your life but be aware. one of the things i do as teacher is stress to people, that it is when you see these acts start to develop, obviously we're not able to spot when they're going to happen. so now we need to be responsive to them. when we see them happening there are two simple things you can do. one, if you can see the shooter, if you can see the bomber, if you can see the attack, take your first out, whether it is a doorway, whether opposite way up the road. if you can just hear it, keep moving away. nicole: matthew graham, thank you for your insight.

you are a terrorism expert here on fox news. we want to go back to mali where there is hostage situation and our sister network sky news following this story. >> two women were released. what seemed to be happening, can you recite verses of the koran, if you can we'll let you go. initially the two. same test given to other 20. if that report is correct the other 20 were released. security forces formed a cordon around the hotel received the hostages. they are trying to figure out what to do next. a u.n. official is quoted by a number of sources saying that some kind of a special forces security operation has begun. and some deaths could have happened as part of that. not clear whether those deaths happened as part of that or part of the initial hostage taking operation carried out by these terrorists in the hotel. french diplomatic sources said france is providing low gistal

and intelligence support at the scene. we have not not had verification these special force, malian, special forces moved into the hotel and begun a operation to release hostages. it is pretty unclear what is happening beyond the fact that well over 100 hostages have been taken hostage by, between two and 12 gunmen, now depending on which malian police commander is speaking. other witnesses saying what they did, moved through the hotel. burst in, got past security. this has been described to us as one of the possibly best hotel in town in the capital of mali. therefore you would have thought it would have been used by dig nary -- dignitaries, possibly by french military. one of the reports taken hostage but that is not verified. whoever stays there would require a level of security. despite that these gunmen have been able to get in using assault rifles and grenades. burst in shouting "allahu

akbar!," according to some eyewitnesses, moved through the hotel floor by floor, we assume corralling guests, to move them up to the seven floor where eyewitnesses said they heard gunfire coming from and possibly explosions of these hand grenades. it is thought that is the floor on which these hostages are currently being held by around a dozen, up to a dozen gunmen, terrorists who holding them hostage but releasing some of them once they proven, which hostages have proven they can recite verses from koran and are muslim and worthy of police. >> the president of mali actually the tweeted this. the president in the g5 summit cutting shortly his voice to it return to bamako in the coming hours. we have a line in from foreign office. we're aware of situation in hallly and in close touch with authorities about the attack on the radisson blu hotel.

>> they're trying to find out and establish whether any british hostages are involved. and they may not tell us immediately if they do discover that. so far no comment on that. they believe that british embassy personnel have been contacted and they're trying to establish which british people are involved in this. as are other countries. as turks and chinese said some of their nationals are there. >> what about people watching concerned they might have loved ones there? as soon as foreign office knows to they contact loved once? what happens? >> people who believe they have relatives in bamako will be encouraged to contact them if they can't make contact, to contact their embassy to try to verify their whereabouts. and at some point normally the foreign office will then, if they believe british people are involved in this, will put out a phone number you can contact to make contact to find out whether our relative is accounted for.

i imagine the same kind of protocol procedures would apply to other countries who might believe their nationals are involved in the situation. >> let's bring back in international security consultant. olivia. you believe al qaeda or affiliates are very much behind this? >> yes, very much so because of fact that al qaeda of islamic maghreb are prevalent in the country. remember the french military operation happened just when al qaeda was about to storm into bamako and take over the country in 2013. so people have to realize that this was a country almost in the hands of al qaeda. so, not very surprising unfortunately what happened today. i think that, what would be the

point to look at, what's happening right now is that are the terrorists also trapped with suicide vests? or was it just an attack, a classical attack with gun and grenades? so that would show us the level of determination that they have. >> olivia, thank you very much. 170 people taken hostage at 7:00 this morning by between two and 10 armed gunmen. reports that three have been killed, 20 released including two malians and one french national we believe killed. stay with us. all the latest coming up. nicole: we have been getting latest from sister station sky news from the hostage situation that continues to develop in mali. we watch the global market action. let's see how asia closed overnight. a mixed bag here with, we did see a mixed bag overall. here is european markets which are currently trading. not too much reaction.

u.s. stock market futures here at home on a week that we've been up almost 3% for the week. we've seen some up arrows. lot some of that momentum. we're back up again. the dow futures up 51. and also s&p futures up more than three. we'll keep a keen eye on nike. dividend buyback stock split. here is look at commodities, oil and gold as well. keeping key eye on commodities. we're watching as well as currencies and 10-year treasury bond. we've seen a strong dollar. last couple of days not necessarily so. we'll keep an eye on that as well. big picture we're watching developing story in mali with 170 originally as stages taken, and reports from our sister nation sky news three are actually dead, others released. here is look at currencies. a mixed bag. japanese yen is stronger against the u.s. dollar.

and safe haven of our own treasury yield, 10-year bond yield right now on winning week on wall street. we're watching that at 2. -- we'll get that for you in a second. there it is 2.25% for the 10-year treasury bond yield. this as we develop the story in mali. hostages, gunfire, grenades and death as well. now we go right over for more on breaking news out of mali with our own maria bartiromo. "mornings with maria" begins right now. good morning, maria. maria: good morning nicole. breaking news in mali. hotel under siege. gunmen have taken 170 people hostage, inside radisson blu hotel inside the capital city of

bamako. the hotel chain says more than 100 people are locked inside the hotel. u.s. embassy is tweeting they're aware of active shooter situation. advising all u.s. citizens to take shelter. reports this morning say at least three people have been killed in this attack already. the associated press reporting about 20 of those hostages have been freed. the white house saying president obama has been briefed on the situation. we're turning to the latest developments out of paris. we're watching both of these stories this morning. french prosecutor's office saying a third body found in an apartment raided by police. after it was confirmed yesterday that the mastermind behind the attack was also killed in that police raid. we head to paris for the latest developments coming up. we'll take you there live. looking at market this is morning. not big reaction to all breaking stories. momentum for stocks continuing today with the dow jones industrial average expected to epup about 60 points. nasdaq and s&p 500 looking firmer. chec