Photos are emerging of hostages being freed from the Radisson Blu hotel. Some 138 people are still trapped inside.
The Radisson Blu has set up a hotline for family members concerned about their relatives in the hotel in Bamako, which was stormed by gunmen this morning.
A French UN staffer in Mali's capital Bamako has told Newsweek that she and her colleagues have been instructed by UN security not to leave the building.
"We want to go home but can't," the staffer said, adding that the attack on the Radisson Blu hotel reminded her of last week's attacks by IS militants on Paris.
"I feel terrified … especially since I was just coming back from Paris, after the attacks there," the UN staffer said.
U.S. special operations forces are assisting in the Mali hotel hostage situation, CNN is reporting.
Hostages released from the Radisson Blu have started to talk to reporters about their experiences when gunmen stormed the luxury hotel this morning.
One of the released hostages says he heard the gunmen talking in English.
Another freed hostage described "horrible" scenes in the hotel.
"I was inside, I saw the dead bodies in the hall. It is horrible what is happening inside the hotel. I got out when the security forces enter the hotel," the witness told France 24.
The U.S. State Department has also issued guidelines for American citizens in Mali, saying that they should "shelter in place."
The UK's Foreign Office has just tweeted updated travel advice for British nationals in Mali, advising them to stay indoors and follow the instructions of the local authorities.
France's BFMTV has published this video showing footage from Mali's state broadcaster, ORTM, which has scenes from the Radisson Blu in Bamako. The footage shows special forces entering the hotel as well as hostages leaving it.
Twenty Indian nationals who were among those held hostage at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako are safe, and the Indian embassy is in touch with them, an Indian diplomat has told the Times of India.
The Times of India has also spoken to an Indian businessman, Dev Bulani, from inside the Radisson Blu.
"We are safe and not in danger," Bulani, who travels between Dubai and Bamako on business and who has a permanent apartment inside the hotel complex, said.
Bulani said that his apartment is just a few meters away from the scene of the fighting but is separated from the area by a swimming pool.
"The French and Mali military is protecting us and have told us we will soon be shifted out," Bulani said.
"We earlier heard heavy gunshots but it has reduced now. Maybe the army has managed to bring the situation under control."
The gunmen who stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali's capital, were armed with AK-47s, UN mission spokesman Olivier Salgado has told the Financial Times, citing a Malian security source.