MONTREAL — A spokeswoman for Quebec's national assembly says an employee of the institution was among the hostages freed after Islamic extremists stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital this morning.
Noemie Cimon-Mattar says Maxime Carrier-Legare was in the hotel but is now safe.
She said Carrier-Legare has been working as an adviser to an association of francophone parliaments since 2011.
At least 18 people were dead after the extremists, armed with guns and grenades, stormed the luxury hotel in Bamako this morning.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard and International Relations Minister Christine St-Pierre issued a joint statement condemning the attacks.
At a news conference in Ottawa, Couillard said several Quebecers, including national assembly employees, were in Bamako to attend a meeting of francophone parliamentarians.
The Department of Global Affairs, formely Foreign Affairs, tweeted it was in contact with Canada's ambassador to Mali and was actively following the situation.
20 INDIANS TAKEN HOSTAGE IN MALI, FREED
At least three people were killed on Friday as gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Mali's capital Bamako and took hostage some 170 people including 20 Indians. All the Indians were freed safety as security forces launched a counter-assault.
The external affairs ministry said in New Delhi initially that India's ambassador was and monitoring the situation, and later announced that all the Indians had been "safely evacuated".
The identity of the attackers was not immediately known. No group claimed responsibility.
The Radisson Blu Hotel chain said two armed men locked 140 guests and 30 employees, CNN reported. Two Malian citizens and a French national were killed.
But some 80 people, including three UN staff members, were the first to be freed, the country's state broadcaster ORTM said.
Twelve Air France crew members staying in the hotel were in a "safe place", the airline said. Air France has cancelled all its flights Friday to and from Bamako as a precaution.
The Radisson Blu Hotel is about 15 minutes away from the Bamako Senou International Airport.
According to Xinhua news agency, at least seven Chinese guests were among the hostages.
One of them exchanged instant messages with a Xinhua reporter and said he heard multiple gunshots outside his room and then smelled smoke.
The ordeal began at around 7.00 a.m. when two men carrying AK-47s reached the hotel in a vehicle or vehicles with diplomatic plates, said Olivier Saldago, a spokesman for the UN Mission in Mali.
According to Salgado, the hotel was hosting a large delegation for the Mali peace process.
Mali, located in west Africa and the eighth largest country in Africa, has been hit by an armed conflict since January 2012. It led to intervention by French troops against Islamists in the country's north.
President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita cut short his trip to Chad and flew back to Mali, a country of 14.5 million people where Islam is the dominant religion.
