Soldiers stand around a United Nations vehicle following the attack (Picture: Reuters)

At least two people were killed after gunmen stormed a luxury resort popular with Western expats in Mali.

Le Campement resort in Dougourakoro, to the east of the capital Bamako, came under attack this afternoon.

Pictures posted on social media claim to show smoke rising from the resort.

The attackers took hostages with the total number of casualties unclear in the assault.


‘I heard gunfire coming from the camp and I saw people running out of the tourist site,’ said Modibo Diarra, who lives nearby.

‘I learned that it was a terrorist attack.’

The resort is in the south of Mali (Picture: Google)

Flames rise from the resort (Picture: Reuters)

Malian soldiers succeeded in entering the site, according to Commandant Modibo Traore, a spokesman for the Malian special forces in the former French colony.



‘The operation is ongoing and we estimate that there are between three and four assailants,’ he said.

The UN official said those at the resort when the attack began included people affiliated with the French military mission as well as the UN.

The French president’s office, the defense minister’s office and the French military would not comment immediately on the attack or on reports saying that French forces are intervening.

AFP report attack at a resort in Bamako, Mali (Campement Kangaba)

-9th June US embassy in Mali had issued this statement pic.twitter.com/ir9Teje7Nt — Samira Sawlani (@samirasawlani) June 18, 2017

Less than two weeks ago, the US Embassy had issued a warning of increased threat of terror.

They said ‘locations in Bamako where westerners frequent’ were potential targets, and advised people to avoid meeting in places with low security.

Mali, in West Africa, has been battling an Islamist insurgency in the North, with the southern areas generally not as affected.

However, in November 2015, 20 people including 14 foreigners were killed in a siege at the upmarket Radisson Blue hotel in Bamako.