Tuareg soldiers in the Malian army. Photo: Jerome Delay

A gun battle is taking place at the Hotel Radisson in the Mali capital of Bamako, an official at the French embassy in the city said.

Two gunmen are reported to have taken 170 hostages during an attack on the Hotel Radisson in the Malian capital.

"The attack is ongoing," United Nations spokesman Olivier Salgado said by phone from the capital. "What we know is that the attackers are in the hotel and have automatic weapons."

UN forces and Malian government troops are at the scene, he said. The French and U.S. embassies confirmed that the attack was under way.

Advertisement

Mali was plunged into violence after a military coup in March 2012 left a power vacuum that allowed Islamist militants to join with separatists and seize northern areas of the country. While French and UN forces pushed the militants out of most of those strongholds in 2013, the government is struggling to regain authority there.

The US embassy in Bamako has tweeted that it "is aware of an ongoing active shooter operation at the Radisson Hotel".

All US citizens were asked "to shelter in place" and "encouraged to contact their families".

"Very early in the morning there was gunfire. Apparently it's an attempt to take hostages. The police are there and are sealing off the area," a security source told Reuters.

Reuters, Bloomberg