Gunmen 'storm EU military training base in Bamako'

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Gunmen on Monday attacked a hotel in Mali's capital Bamako that had been converted into a base for a European Union military training mission in the West African nation, a defence ministry official and a witness said.

The witness said the attack targeted Bamako's Nord-Sud Hotel, which serves as headquarters for the mission of nearly 600 EU military personnel deployed to Mali to train its security forces.

"The attackers tried to force through the entry and the guards posed in front of the entrance opened fire. One attacker was killed. The gunfire continued for several minutes," he said.

There were no casualties among staff in an attack, the mission said: "No EUTM-Mali personnel has been hurt," the EU mission said on Twitter, adding it was now securing the area.

A Malian defence ministry spokesman confirmed that shots had been fired at the hotel. "The security forces arrived on the scene a half hour ago. I don't have more information than that for the moment," Colonel Diarran Kone told Reuters.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Dozens of people were killed in an attack in November on Bamako's Radisson Blu hotel claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The group also targeted a beach resort town in Ivory Coast earlier this month, killing 19 people.

(Reuters)