3 hostages dead, rest evacuated in Bamako hotel attack in Mali

All remaining hostages at the Malian siege where at least three people died are now safe and out of the Radisson Blu in Bamako where they had been held, ministerial adviser Amadou Sangho told French television station BFMTV. "These people have been taken under the wing of the civil authorities," he said.

Earlier Malian commandos stormed the luxury hotel after Islamist gunmen took 170 people including many foreigners hostage in the capital of the former French colony, which has been battling rebels allied to al Qaeda for several years.

He added the operation was undertaken "uniquely" by Malian forces.