On 20 November 2015, Islamist militants took 170 hostages and killed 20 of them in a mass shooting at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, the capital city of Mali.

[5][6][7] The siege was ended when Malian special forces, backed by U.S. and French personnel, launched an assault on the hotel to recover the surviving hostages.

A Human Rights Watch report said the Macina Liberation Front militants had carried out serious abuses in parts of central Mali since January and killed at least five people they accused of being aligned to the government.

[12] The Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako is in a business district that is close to the embassies, and is frequented by foreign businesspeople and government employees.

[6] Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traoré said that at least 10 gunmen had stormed the hotel shouting "Allahu Akbar" before firing on guards and taking hostages.

[6] The Associated Press[20] and Al Jazeera have reported that in the chaos of the initial attack, many present were able to escape, but around 170 people were held hostage.

[11] 25 U.S. government personnel were in Bamako at the time of the attack, some of whom assisted Malian forces in evacuating civilians to secure locations.

[7][40] In an audio recording provided to Al Jazeera, the group also claimed responsibility and said that it had undertaken the attack jointly with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

[18] Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta cut short his visit to Chad in order to return to Bamako and coordinate the response.

[44] In a press conference, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stated that France will take "all steps necessary" to fight the attackers in Bamako.

[48] Similar warnings were made by the Foreign Office in the United Kingdom advised British nationals to remain indoors and follow the instructions of the local government authorities.

"[citation needed] The embassy urged its citizens to shelter in place, follow government instructions and contact their family.

Ahead of the three days of national mourning, the chairman of the West African regional bloc Ecowas, Senegal's President Macky Sall, visited Bamako to show support.

[15] On 22 November 2015, two separate police sources speaking to Agence-France Presse on condition of anonymity said that "two foreigners" along with "three or four accomplice" were responsible for the attack.