Tighter Border Control and a third body was found in the rubble where the suspected attack organizer was killed and lets rejoin our colleagues in doha with the latest in mali. Attacked a luxury hotel for the foreigners in bamako and say 170 people have been taken hostages and at least 80 of the hostages have been freed so far from the Radisson Hotel but another three people were confirmed dead and yvonne is monitoring this story from the nigerian capitol abuja and get us up to speed and what do we know . Well, what we know is that the situation is live and active and on going. The siege is still underway. We managed to speak to some eyewitnesses who are on the scene outside of the Radisson Blu Hotel. What they tell us is that French Military who operate in mali who have a base in mali, Mali Special Forces and u. N. Forces as the u. N. Peace keeper mission there are around the how elbow hotel and surrounded the hotel and some of them have tried to go in the hotel to diffuse the situation and free hostages. Earlier there were reports and im not sure if you mentioned this already that some had managed to escape and staff from Turkish Airlines managed to escape and at least three members of staff and still trying to verify if that is accurate and not sure if you said this actual will but some who were able to recite versus from the quran were freed and we understand that three people have been killed, earlier this morning i was reporting it was two and not clear if the government decided to take another life of course its an ongoing and unfolding and fast moving situation, very difficult to know what is going on inside the hotel, various people have been speaking about what is going on, various Diplomatic Missions in bamako have put out warnings on social media to citizens to stay away from the Radisson Blu Hotel and do not leave their homes until the situation is over and we know that indian nationals are involved, a large number of indian ex patriots are working in mali and in many nations in west africa you do have a significant presence in the Business Community of indian nationals and its not clear how many potential indian hostages there are. We are being told around 20. Again, very difficult to verify so information coming in all the time. The situation seems to be changing but in the last few minutes we have not thankfully fortunately reported any further deaths. Right now what we are being told and what we understand is that unfortunately three peoples lives have been taken and have been killed so far in the ongoing siege. Clearly questions to be answered about security yvonne because we have one report saying they got into that area into the hotel in vehicles that might have had diplomatic plates on them. Well, that is right and obviously inevitably there will be questions about how secure the hotel was in the first place even as the situation is going on. This is going to be key to diffusing the situation. Now, you have to remember peter that this hotel is situated in a central part of bamako where there are lots of diplomatic buildings and embassys for instance where you have government ministries, where you have government offices and other Large International Companies Working and operating in bamako and one has to imagine the security situation there as been fairly good given the checkered history of the political instability and security in mali obviously in the north but a concern in the capitol where you have most of the International Companies and foreigners about security so you can imagine that security there has been fairly good if investigations reveal that indeed these attackers did storm this hotel or enter this hotel but wouldnt have stormed it clearly if they had vehicles with diplomatic plates and would have driven in calmly but if they are under the guise of a diplomate that is a huge concern, what Security Checks were taken i mean i can tell you here i mean its slightly different but kind of related with the rise of boko haram in nigeria what we have seen is heightened security at hotels in particular checking of the boot of the vehicle, you know, proper searches of vehicles entering hotel complexes, the question is you know did that happen in this instance, were the Security Checks good, were they rudimentary and was there a Security Check if the people did enter the hotel in a diplomatic vehicle . Maybe not. The situation is unclear. But obviously all those questions will be obviously answered in due course. The most important thing right now for the Security Services obviously is diffusing the situation and getting as many people out of this situation and alive and as quickly as possible. Yvonne you will keep us up to date and thanks very much and mali is boosting security in the region and we have an update on the situation in mali a short time ago during a visit to india. Personally i am in touch with or a messenger and with people in paris. Right now there is action by the Malian Forces which have started and so far as french are concerned about taking all of the necessary steps in order to solve that crisis. A crisis unit has been installed in the mali and in france. Lets take you live to the heart of the story and talk to a local resident and just tell us what you have been seeing and what you have been hearing. Thank you. From mali and since the morning, Early Morning we hear from friends about the big hotel and had been attacked by gunsmen and are shooting people and we have been following this and we hear he is out of the country and in addition to that we are waiting right now from a friend saying the gunsmen are in the fifth floor of the hotel where they have been taking hostages and a crew right now in the hotel. This information was given by somebody escaping from him and also they will ask you if you can Say Something from the kuran and if you do they will let you go. And some hose tables have been released but so far i think its now also the mali army is doing its best with the hostages. And i also read some reports that right now some soldiers are coming to help the troops on the ground here and we are expecting them in mali around 6 007 00 p. M. Our local time. So basically what i called say right now is that in mali this is what i hear from different sources. Just to be clear, sir, youre saying that this is happening on mainly the fifth floor of the hotel . Yes, according to a source who is in front of the hotel and he mentioned that and he asked i mean somebody who knew of the circumstances and said they are on the fifth floor of the hotel, yeah. What kind of people stay at that particular establishment . What kind of hotel, i mean what kind of people, what do you mean by what kind of people . Are they people from mali . Are they international diplomates . Are they International Businessmen perhaps . Well, yeah, you know this hotel is one of the Nicest Hotels in town and many people are in this hotel. It is not only mali, it is also they are saying the staff of the hotel also the customers of the hotel because right now according to a released statement they asked the hotel owner who said the hotel is full at 90 so 900 and 190 rooms and is 90 meaning its not only malians but International People who are there. This is still an ongoing situation but we understand what we are talking about here is local police or army, French Forces and also forces with the United Nations, is that what youre hearing as well . Yes, and as i said at the hotel and we mentioned that the assault with the forces and the attitudes are outside. What would security have been like on this hotel on an ordinary day . Sorry . What would security have been like today . How many security guards or how many people would have been working in the hotel lobby say . Its difficult to say because in the center and if we hear things from them and i have internet and can follow the information but i think if i need more information i can ask people but right now i cannot mention what it looks like outside. Thank you for that. Can you just describe for me what is area around the hotel is like and perhaps as well how easy it would have been for somebody or some people to drive up to the hotel . The hotel is the way its a residential place because its one of the nicest districts of the town in 2000 and a very nice hotel and there are checkpoints on the entrance and you cannot access to the hotel easily but what they use is they can access it easily and saying not only malian people and its not easy to access it so the hotel its the best interest of the hotel. Do you know or is anyone there speculating as to why some of the people were released . Speculation here was that they were asking some people to be released if they can recite some of the kwshg u quran and basically what we hear from them. And we understand and i dont know if you can confirm this or not that the people who have been released they must now be talking to the local Security Forces or the army. Sorry . The people who have been released must surely now being interviewed by the police. Yes, the reason i was saying that according to my source of information over there and its here for so many days and interviewed by the locals. And the area around the hotel obviously is in a situation of lock down, give us a sense of how big that area is indeed is the city itself in a state of lock down . Its a big area that has been locked down but everyone would like and i have been following them and everybody would like to say that and right now the lock down by the forces to get some information we have had no claim of responsibility yet but if you had to identify one group who might want to do this who do you think it might be . I cannot mention anyone yet but its speculation going on mentioning a group which is now mostly a group of people and we are waiting on social media that it could be. Are people talking to each other . How are you finding out what is going on . Is the government or is local television and local radio keeping you across all the developments . We have some local radios that talk about it and a Flash Program giving information and Radio International and also providing information to people so those are mainly our sources of information. Thank you so much for your time, sir, we appreciate it. Okay here is a closer look at where the radisson blu is located in the capitol bamako and its a massive hotel and takes up an entire block in the Western District of the capitol. And a freelance journalist is outside the radisson blu. Just get us up to speed, what are you hearing, what are you seeing . Exactly right now i got the last information, more than 18 have been released from the hotel, more than 18 have been released from the hotel and they are now outside of the hotel and the people are many young citizens come over the hotel and taking over for what is going on exactly. So there is still 90 plus people inside the building . Yes and still 90 plus people inside the building and the Security Forces and troops are taking care of it. I cant stay. They are at the hotel and basically a member taking care of it and first of all what i can see is a young man, a young man for about a young man about inaudible. Are the Security Forces talking to the hostage takers yet . Excuse me . Are the Security Forces, is the army talking to the people inside . Yes, the Security Forces are talking to the people inside but we dont know exactly what they are saying and what they are discussing about. Have there been i done think we know the answer to this have there been any demands from the hostage takers . Not especially but we dont know exactly from the security sources and dont know exactly how many persons they have and how many persons are inside the hot hotel. What youre saying we have got u. N. Forces, French Forces, local forces, what is your sense as to how well they can Work Together . Yes, they are acting toget r together. Is it your feeling that this is a long situation, this will carry on now for several hours at least . Hello . Its peter with al jazeera, can you hear me . I cant hear you, i cant hear you. Okay, i think you were just one more answer there for us, is it your situation, is it your brief rather that this will carry on for several hours to come . Hello . I think we lost the line there and fluid situation on the ground and lots of stuff going on in the background and lets just recap for you on the hostage situation at the Radisson Blu Hotel at the capitol bamako and three killed and managed to rescue at least 80 people and are reports that special forces are now at the scene, French Special forces are on route and at least ten gunmen involved and several including french, indian, turks, chinese, nigerians and malians and we have covered mali and keeping us company in the coming hours and what is your reading of where we are now . I think its mostly over. And we thought earlier this might take longer and i suspected because of the number of hostages and structure and location of the hotel but so shaktar we are talking about 60 of the hostages have been released and the hostage from air france 12 crew members who also have been released and france has decided to send 50 of its terror complex units to mali because of the situation perhaps to put more security on that and right now we are hearing the local media is talking about the special forces Malian Special forces and you know like the pictures we are seeing on the screen they are into the lobby of the hotel, they are taking the hotel floor by floor to make sure that it has been cleared of the attackers whom we know so far and know nothing about, we dont know if they have been able to escape or are they hiding somewhere else but i think the situation is likely to end very soon than we might have thought. Interesting you mentioned french interests there because you have got mali, you have French Forces in mali and there for sometime and an American Hotel chain operated out of brussels, is it linked to what happened a week ago in paris . I think this group even before the attacks that happened in paris a week ago have been involved into a full combat, full attack situation against the french because since the french intervention back in the early days of 2013 specifically in january there have been out you know against all the french president s and have seen the map and mines and used them against the French Forces in the northern part of the country and seen them attack restaurants in the capitol, one that happened in march last year where in which french, belgium and others and five nationals and seen another attack in august this year where a hotel that was used by also foreign nationals and u. N. Peace keeping forces have been attacked as well in the city of savari which is located a few hundred kilometers from the capitol. So we also have to look into the fact that the gold industry in the country, the country has a lot of gold and resources, it is also operated mainly by French Companies so i think its one thing that these groups are taking advantage of. Some people watching the events of the past three or four hours and i quite this happened because the government is point number one weak and point number two frightened, would you agree with that . Well, i would agree with that. I would of course things may have changed now from the time i was there two years ago but the government itself doesnt even have the personnel that will be able to cover the whole country so the fact its not even able to control the northern part of the country completely, we have seen in the last three years despite all the presence of the french or even of the u. N. Peace keeping forces that these forces were actually trying to let the government handle things and gradually put them into position but so far they have not been able to do things and we have actually seen that back in the days of 2012 when the c oh, o happened back in march 2012 and there were different factions inside the army and in a contradictory position that it was very easy for the army to actually to topple the government and take control of things. We have actually seen back even in the french intervention days in january and february of 2013 that most of the work was done by the french because the french or the m ashalian and the polic army are not capable of doing things the proper way. One last brief point before we continue on with coverage there was a disconnect here because if you accept the premise that the government is weak and frightened just within the last year the french president Francois Hollande signed deals of tens of millions of dollars and why has that not evolved into a government that is not weak and a government that is not frightened . I think the main issue here is that the government itself is not in really control of the country because probably he hand the french are more reliant on their own forces to protect their own interests and we have seen the presence today in this hostage situation and i think the government there is there to make things look like there is someone running the country but i think the government needs at one point to reconcile with the northern part of the country before it can actually get its group together on things and as far as i know if this doesnt happen this sense of being frightened and people have been scared we will be there for sometime. And fastmoving story of course on the ground in bamako and outside of the country and the french president Francois Hollande addressed the ongoing hostage situation there with a number of french nationals being held there as well. Translator we have to once again show solidarity with our friends in mali, there are Many National naturaltys in the hotel in bamako and assure them they have our full support and we will help in any way we can to free the nationals and french nationals to contact the french embassy. With the french president lets take you live now to a man who owns a business near the hotel and on the line from bamako and how did you find out about what is happening . Early this morning there were a few people who were alarmed and getting together and getting into the shooting and the malian army and soldiers were on top of the roof and seeing what is going on. When you say to us that you were right behind the building, are you saying you are standing right behind the building or is that where your business is . Im right behind it. We are being told that special forces are in the lobby area of the hotel, we dont know if they are moving their way up through the building, on that particular point what are you hearin hearing . At this particular point they are on the second floor and also some people on the roof that are going down to the sixth floor and this is what im showing from the special forces. [switching captioners] they are now on the sixth floor. This situation very fluid is happening on the fifth floor. We had a report saying it was on the seventh floor, but one eyewitness, a man very close to the hotel was telling us and this is the word going around is that its happening on the fifth floor. We will keep you right across all the developments. Aljazeera. Com. Well go back to that as soon as there are anymore developments. Moving on to our other top stories. E. U. And syria are holding emergency meetings talking about borders checks and internal security. Theyll be looking to introduce measures to curb the trafficking of weapons. The meeting comes following last weeks attack in paris which left 129 people dead. The French Muslim Council is urging mosques to send a unified message during friday prayers. The countrys 2. 5000 mosques have been asked to condemn all view lengths and terrorism. Lets cross live to paris to the prayers being held at the grand mosque in paris. We are live outside the mosque. Give us a sense of how muslims are feeling right now. Dozens of the faithful have come out to pray. Prayers have ended. There is a sermon where a statement was read stating that it was a condemnation of those attacks that happened last week in paris, but also an adherence to the guidelines of the republic of france, making sure that the french citizenry here understood that muslims stood united with the french people in condemning these attacks. One of the more interesting things we heard today was that the council of the muslim faith in france had distributed this statement to all the mosques across france. Some local Media Outlets reporting that there were some mosques, not a lot, some mosques in different parts of the country that didnt want to read the statement the way it was written and delivered to them, but while they were condemning the attacks, they wanted to make their remarks in their own particular way. Now, yesterday, we spent a great deal of the day in predominantly muslim neighborhoods in and around paris, trying to talk to muslims, most of them of north african descent and parentage about what it was like for them now in the wake of the attacks. We encountered a lot of fear, a lot of people not sure what the future was going to hold and theres resentment deepening toward the french government because of their policies towards the north african communities here, heres our report. All his life, he has struggled with acceptance. A french algerian background, he tells me hes never truly been allowed to simulate. It was always difficult at school. They called me the arab and its always been hard to get a job with the faith i have. Born and raised in france, he certainly sees himself as french, but says his fellow countrymen and women only ever identified him at algerian. Growing up feeling this marginalized, it was as easy for him to fall into dealing drugs as it was to slip into despair. There was no other activity for yours, not even a youth association. There are so many members of the north African Community here to needs help. They feel alone in the city. In the wake of the attacks in par rigs, many muslims in this city feel more alone than ever before. In neighborhoods like this, resentment is growing almost as fast as fear is spreading. Practically everyone is worried that negative tuesday towards north africans and muslims in france will only harden. At the same time, they were all too afraid to tell us that on camera. He tells me its easy to see why so many muslims in france feel alienated. From kindergarten, you are always treated differently, so these kids if weak enough will slip into this complex thinking this is not my country, these people hate me and its normal for me to be treated separately. There are people that go to violence, criminality and there are of course groups who prey and these weak elements to turn them into homegrown terrorists. He adds that so long as the french government doesnt address the underlying causes of disenfranchisement, the situation will not improve. Its a thought that haunts him. During his troubled adolescence. He dreamed of a day when things would finally improve, a day when hed have a family of his own. Now, though, while happy to be employed and married, he finds himself far more concerned about his two children and the future theyll face than he ever was for himself. A really difficult situation, obviously across the entire country. 80 of french people want their government to do more. Is it your feeling that thats leading to a lot of tension and friction between the different communities . It is definitely more 10 in these communities. You can see that there is anger that is rising, also fear really spreading right now. Yesterday, when we went to the various neighborhoods, so many people that we spoke to, and again, i must stress that practically all of them would not speak to us on camera. So many we spoke with said that they dont believe the french are addressing the underlying issues, the root causes for what could make somebody a homegrown terrorist. Until that happens, they believe the problems here, these type of extremists, these types of attacks may . At the same time, they say if those attacks , they believe that theyll continue to be put under a microscope, that theyll have to be harassed. Particularly, theres fear about the state of emergency laws that have been extended. Yesterday you had them extended in the lower house and today expected to be in the senate. Theres fear that there will be more raised, more people will be scrutinized and most people thought there will be a lot of innocent people caught up in these raids, that they will be detained and that will not engender good will when there needs to be rapprochement in paris and throughout the country. We have heard just in the last few hours that a second body of the three killed in the raids in saint denis the day before yesterday, a second body has been identified that its a woman. They suspected it would be and now confirmed that she is a cousin of abdelhamid abaaoud, the suspected leader of the attackers in paris. Its expected that the general prosecutor in paris will put out a statement that perhaps they have confirmed the body of the third person who have died in those raids in saint denis. We understand that theres no cctv footage thats emerged of abaaoud, placing him in the area on the day of the attacks. Thats something were hearing throughout the day today. Were trying to get more clarification of it from the prosecutor generals office. We are expecting more details to emerge in the hours to come, but it just goes to show how complex this operation is, how even though theres been so much work done, theres so much more to be done. The manhunt still underway for also saleh abdeslam, the other suspect police thought was pole in saint denis the day of the raids and they thought had fled from that scene, so theres still a lot of angles to the story, a lot more to be checked on and a lot more questions and answers even still at this hour. Peter. Muhammed, thanks very much. Al jazeera has learned that the Australian Navy has turned away a bootful of asylum seekers. It was within 200 feet of the island. The government is refusing to comment on the reports. Andrew tomas reports now from sydney. Weve spoken to people who live on Christmas Island and saw this boat just off Christmas Island. The small green and white boat. They werent able to say how many were onboard. It was intercepted a couple of hundred meters from shore and escorted back out to sea, after which they lost sight of it. Australias government wont confirm or deny on this. Their policy is not to comment on operational matters. If it is the case, the boat of refugees got within a couple of hundred meters from australian territory. It would be significant. It would be the first time thats happened in well over a year. Australians government has made much of the fact they have stopped the boats of refugees from reaching australia through puff policies to deter refugees from getting on boats and trying to come to australia in the first place. If they are successful in getting through, they will be transferred to prisons in new guinea with no homes of being resettled in australia. Boats are being turned back in international waters. The crew even paid to turn around and take their passengers back to indonesia. This boat seems to have been intercepted close to shore well within australias waters. What happens to the refugees onboard from here . Well, we will see, but this is certainly and embarrassment for australias government, evidence that they havent stopped the boats in the way they claim they have. The former israeli spy has reportedly been released from a u. S. Jail after spending third years behind bars. Jonathan pollard was given a life sentence in 1987 for selling american intelligence to israel. Poll lured is expected to settle in new york state while he completes the next five years on president obama role. Parole. Chinese Security Forces killed 28 people it described as terrorists. It follows a massive manhunt over two months. The killings took place in the area home to a vast muslim community. Those killed belonged to an attack on a coal mine in september. Police in east china have busted the countries largest underground banking system. Illegal funds of nearly 64 billion were transferred overseas using nonresident accounts. We are in beijing with more. This is where the honest folk come when they transfer money overseas in china, their local bank. If they want to transfer more than 50,000 in one year, theres a problem, because currency controls prevent that, which is why the underground Banking Network is now flourishing. How does it work . Essentially these operators set up dummy cross or thousands of overseas Bank Accounts to which they make legal transfers. Now this is one of the reasons why wealthy chinese are able to buy property in places like sidney, hong kong, london, and new york. They are using the underground banking knelt work or middle man. Because this is a very shady business, reliable data is hard to come by, but in august, chinas Foreign Exchange reserves fell by more than 93 billion u. S. Dollars. In september, they fell by 40 billion more. This was a period when chinas stock market falling and currency being devalued. It says that wealthy chinese are voting with their feet and leaving the country, because they dont believe their money is safe here anymore. Three people have been killed, 80 rescued, there are reports special forces are now at the scene, French Special forces are also on their way. There are at least 10 gunmen involved. Several in thes were involved, french, indian, turks, chinese, nigerians and maliens. They are centered on floor five inside that hotel. Thats right. Initially, the reports were suggesting that the situation was unfolding on the seventh floor, now we understand its the fifth floor. Obviously good news that some of the people who were taken as hostages appear to have been freed. We dont know whether theyve been freed by the hostage takers or rescued by special forces, which involve the french, malians and some u. N. Forces. There is a u. N. Peacekeeping mission on the ground at the raddison blue trying to diffuse, deescalate the situation and being back normality. One has to imagine those freed are currently talking to the Security Services about whats going on inside. There are contradictory information about how many attackers are inside from various sources. The parent company, United States par rent company of the rod son blue said there were two gunmen, security sources later said and why witnesses on the ground said that at least 1015 gunman took part in the siege on this hotel. Also one can imagine there would be discussions about perhaps exactly where the gunman are, how many hostages there are, how to get in and out of the hotel. These are the kind of discussions that are going to be taking place, but obviously, no news that at least 80 are out of a reported 140, because thats what the hotel were initially saying that 140 hostages have been taken with 30 staff, whether that included the staff, obviously this is a good sign. The hope and prayer is that this situation will be diffused as fast as possible without more bloodshed. We already know, understand that three people have been killed in this attack. Do you think the local Security Forces would have been trained for such a situation . One has to imagine yes, given the checkered political and security situation in the country since the whole separatist movement, Rebel Movement if you like, some call them rebels in the north started to unfold some couple of years ago. In march, there was an attack in which people were killed at a restaurant, gunfire was sprayed at a restaurant, people died there. In august, there was a siege at a hotel in which at least five foreigners, five u. N. Staff, United Nations staff were killed. Obviously this would have sent a message as it were to the international hotels, businesses, diplomatic presences in the country to beef up security. Since this attack start to unfold some hours ago, this hotel, situated in a fairly secure part of the capital, it was very central. Its in the diplomatic zone, so you would have embassies there, you would have government buildings and government ministries there. You would have had, you know, significant security, vehicle checking when vehicles are entering the hotel, reports earlier suggest that the attackers entered the hotel, may have entered the hotel in vehicles using diplomatic license plates, obviously a front to get in, so who knows, maybe the checks were not as rigorous. We can only speculate at this point as to how they were able to get into the premises and execute this obviously now deadly attack, so all these questions will be discussed, are currently being discussed obviously by those Security Services on the ground trying to diffuse the situation and obviously will at some stapling come to an end, these are the questions that the authorities in mali will have to answer to the International Community and obviously everybody involved im going to stop you there. Thats the very latest coming to us live out of the region. Do stay with us here on al jazeera. Were back at the top of the hour. Well see you then. Three dead, dozens more held hostage at a hotel in mali. Israel spy is now out of the a u. S. Prison. Emergency meeting, european leaders considered tightening their borders after the paris attacks. Welcome to your world this morning, im stephanie sy. Im josh rushing. Were following breaking news from moli, a major siege going on now. Gunmen stormed with gun and grenades. They are believed to have taken 170 hostages a and at least three people are dead. There are reports dens of hostages have been released. Al jazeera is monitoring the latest developments from nearby nigeria. The situation at the Raddison Blue Hotel is fast moving and developing. We know that several gunman stormed the hotel in the early hours of the morning and apparently were heard and this is according to eyewitnesses, chanting islamic slogans. We know that theres a hostage situation on going. The hotel owners which is an American Owned Company that is connected here put out a statement saying 140 people had been taken hostage and 30 employees. There are reports of several deaths, but again, unclear on the exact number of people killed. We know that some were freed, those who were able apparently to recite from verses of the koran, there are report that is Staff Members of Turkish Airlines were able to escape. When you look at the history of the situation in mali, the political incourt situation or the lack of security situation, particularly in the north with the separatist movement, there is a background of this kind of violence that were seeing unfold at the Raddison Blue Hotel. In march, a hotel was attacked, several killed. U. N. Workers are killed in august. Its not clear whether the same individuals or same group might be involved, because nobody is claiming responsibility for these attacks but Security Forces have talked about jihadi movements. They are urging citizens to stay at home and stay calm until the situation is diffused and the siege is over. Thank you, yvonne. Al jazeeras reporter has reported extensively from mali and this is not the first attack there. In 2013, we were in the hotel. We went to kind of check the view from above, and there was no sense of security or no one was asking you how we are going around in big hotels in the capital. Weve been to three of them at that time, and none of them actually even has simple security machines to check peoples luggage or even it could be as simple as checking i. D. s. If we look back in history before the independence from france in the 1960s, there wasnt actually one country that we could call as malis at this time. In the north, they think of themselves as a separate nation, separate country. I think this is one thing that the militants either self guided or even boko haram or isil at this moment sees, because this is people that dont think that they have been much interest or Much Development of their own part of the country. There are currently 12,000 forces from the United Nations in mali. We are joined by the senior fellow at the National Center for progress and helped launch the peacekeeping mission in mali in 2013. Good morning, how are you . Ized good to be with you. Everyone is looking for a connection between this attack and the paris attack. Mali has a long history with france. Of the hostages released so far, there are 80 of them, but the end note was a crew from air france. What do you make of that . It highlights an interesting issue here. Many people have been saying, early speculation has been that theres been some sort of link between what hams in paris and this hostage taking in the hotel. If they released air france crew, that would seem to undercut that narrative and that doesnt surprise me completely. I think there is a reasonable chance this has much more to do with the Peace Process in mali rather than a linkage back to the paris events. When we think of the jihadi groups in mali, we think of the Umbrella Organization which is unrelated and rivals isil, so again, do you think that this has to do with that rivalry, that in some ways, this was viewed as a target of opportunity for alqaeda to reassert itself on the world stage . There certainly isnt a great deal of love lost, so it is entirely possible that this is part of some on going rivalry with isil in terms of trying to show a presence on the international stage, particularly in the wake of what just happened in paris. At the same time, i wouldnt be surprised if this is simply more linked to events inside of mali and to the political process in milli and less to do with what were seeing in europe at the moment. The politicalization pros in a stabilization process that just little back on track recently. What does this say about the stabilization in mali. It certainly highlights the vulnerabilities to an asix metric attack. The french did an extraordinarily job of clearing aqim in the north and other parts of the country, but the actually Stabilization Force trying to generate a political process and support a political process to move it forward, theyve always been vulnerable to attacks by a. Q. I. M. And other terrorist organizations and the process itself is somewhat vulnerable to these kind of upticks in violence. Do you think this ends up changing the Security Posture either for the French Special force that is remain or the u. N. Mission there . It certainly will for the u. N. This is the kind of attack the u. N. Has been worried about against its own forces since the beginning of the mission. The u. N. Has been a target in a couple of place in these sorts of attacks. This is one of the most dangerous peacekeeping missions in the world to be a part of and i think this will readjust their posture on the ground, but at the end of the day, the brunt of the effort is at the north of the country. Is there a role for the u. S. In a response to this . The u. S. Has been playing a very quiet role both in support to the french in 2013 in terms of providing logistics and strategic airlift and intelligence and reconnaissance for the french force that went in and theres been a supporting role in terms of training and equipping peacekeepers for the roles that they are playing right now in the north of the country. I wouldnt be surprised if there is a bigger effort to do mother to prepare them to deal with this instance. A French Military intervention in 2013, and then a United Nation piece keeping operation, which has quickly become its most Dangerous Mission on record. I want to go now to marie rodet, joining us from france. Marie, thank you so much for your time. What is your impression of this on going hostage situation at this hotel, which is known to be a favorite spot among expats and who might be behind the attack. The attack i guess not surprising. The situation in mali has been highly volatile with different attacks not only in northern mali, but attacks in central mali, with one against a hotel for example in central mali in august, and further attacks at the border with burkina faso and the ivory coast. You have. In mali of course at the moment, but its the result of a series of attacks, which were a lot in the past few months. We dont know at the moment who might be behind the attack, but three days ago, one of the leaders from northern mali. Why are they targets westerners there . You mean in march or now with the hostage taking now . Today. Well, its the hotel which he is under attack is the most Luxurious Hotel you can have in mali. Its where you have a lot of diplomats and people who are stationed there, so unfortunately, its an ideal target, just to bring light and to make them for this Islamist Groups who might be behind the attack, to bring them back to the light, because the news had been mostly focused on nigeria, on the attacks in paris recently, the timing is quite good for them, because the west feels especially under attack right now by such groups, and with the paris attacks, the attention may be off the french. The situation is calling on the e. U. To help send further soldiers to mali, german and irish soldiers, so they are considering taking away some of their soldiers to reposition them. The timing is quite good for this kind of islamic groups to counter such attacks. Thank you so much for joining us with that perspective. We will continue to follow events in moli. After nearly 30 years in jail, convicted spy, Jonathan Pollard was released. Very early this morning from a federal prison in north carolina. He was convicted of turning over classified information to israel. I dont think it has to do with how much pressure the various israeli governments have put on the various u. S. Administrations over these past 30 years to release him. There is a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in that statement the Prime Minister said it is something he has worked on personally with a lot of effort throughout the years and its a day that he has dreamed of. He has received while he was in prison the israeli citizenship, so but at the moment, according to the parole hes got, he is to spend five years with a travel ban, not allowed to serve the internet and not allowed to make any television interviews. That could be reviewed in two years time. The next step is for him to come here. Several m. P. s have already asked to pass a bill in knesset for pollard to come here. He is an israeli citizen. He might have to give up his american citizenship if he wants to come here before the end of his five year parole, but thats not clear if that could be accepted by the court in the u. S. , and then if he comes here, well, then, the bill that would pass in the knesset will give him certainly full Financial Support for the rest of his life. Reporting from jerusalem, the u. S. Says some of the information pollard passed to israel in the 1980s was linked to the soviet union, putting american operatives there in danger. Israel occupied territories have just experienced the deadliest day since a wave of violence began last month. Five were killed last thursday, including an american teenager. A palestinian man opened fire at a checkpoint near an illegal settlement. In a separate incident, a palestinian man stabbed two israelis to death in telaviv. It brings the death toll to over the last several weeks, over palestinians and 15 israelis. This morning, european leaders are holding emergency talks in brussels, discussing tightening borders and enhancing security in the wake of the paris attacks. A third body has been found at the scene of a raid north of paris where the suspected organizers of the attacks was killed. Do we know anything about the identity of that body in the third raid . So far not, stephanie. They know that abaaoud was there, his cousin, a female suicide bomber exploded the vest which brought down part of the building and made it very difficult for them to get in there. We heard immediately that there were rumors afterwards of a third body, but its taken them sometime to be able to verify that. They say it is the body of a woman, but who it is so far, we dont know. What is the latest on the emergency talks of a potential border crack down . The e. U. Talks have been going on all morning. They said we are running out of time. It is time for the e. U. To lockdown these barredders. Several attackers here on friday night came from syria through greece up through macedonia and they simply werent detected and some of on the terrorist watch list. Theyve agreed now to they are saying that they will strengthen the borders. Theyre going to put electronic measures in place and the e. U. Commission now this morning is also talks the establishment of a c. I. A. Kind of e. U. Wide intelligence agencies, so the will is there, i think, because people are scared about whats happened. Its just a matter of time before it comes to other European Countries and they realizement borders are just open and there is a free flow of exfighters coming out of syrian iraq who can come and carry out these attacks in europe. It has been a week since the attacks. How are people there coping . I think, you know, like the weather today, i mean, its grim, its dark, and depressed when you walk around some of these sites this morning and talk to some of the people. Security is certainly on their minds. We were there at one about to climb this morning. This is the music hall, the scene of the worst carnage friday night. 89 people died in here. There were hundreds wounded, many of them stayed in the roof area. More than 50 survived. They were trying to get away from the gunman shooting people. Three bombs were detonated inside. This is the makeshift shrine along the sidewalk. It is hard wrenching. Messages of love, we miss you, photograph after photograph of victims, all of them very young. That was the target to hit youth, just daily life in paris. I cannot sleep since a week, and my mother is dead a month ago, and now, we have this terrible event. We are all afraid. We think it begins at once more. I am angry. Just enough, is taking measures to. Measures, yes. Measures to make peace, but i think its too late now. I think its too late. Stephanie and del, this conversation about the e. U. Borders and tackling isis in a more serious way, driven by the french now will continue next week when president hollande goes to washington to meet with president obama and going on to meet with president putin as he tries to form a more serious coalition, as they call it, a more muscular one that cancer i couldnt saily damage isis in syria. Dana, thank you. Turning back here to the u. S. Parts of the midwest are starting their weekend with a snowstorm. Lets bring in Nicole Mitchell. Good morning, nicole. Good morning. This one said significant, because in terms of the midwest, weve seen areas of snow, but this is our biggest snowstorm were going to get this far south so far this season. This is going to line up really as it gets into iowa, about interstate 80 and north of that, the core of the heavy snow, already starting to see that move from south dakota into nebraska. Its going to be a rough commute. Some people are getting a jump start using this weekend. Heres where were looking at the core of i have the, i would say the core that we could get up to close to a foot in some isolated places, dubuque, watch for that. Widespread where you see the pink, the winter storm warning, six inches or more in these locations. This will be the or the move, of course the systems coming through have dropped temperatures. Places like minneapolis 34 today. The whole rest of the month, we have had temperatures above average, so this is a shock to the system on a couple fronts and this system is on the move, a little bit more of this. More of this moves to the great lakes and the wet end of it in the south into our day tomorrow. Ok, Nicole Mitchell, thank you. We are following the latest from mali, where gunmen attacked a hotel in the capital. The latest details next. Were talking with former f. B. I. Special agent about the lessons that need to be learned here to protect americans. An al jazeera exclusive investigation, what went wrong in a military operation in afghanistan that left more than a dozen dead. The only way to get better is to challenge yourself, and thats what were doing at xfinity. We are challenging ourselves to improve every aspect of your experience. And this includes our commitment to being on time. Every time. Thats why if were ever late for an appointment, well credit your account 20. Its our promise to you. Were doing everything we can to give you the best experience possible. Because we should fit into your life. Not the other way around. Queer following breaking news from mali, began man attacking a luxury hotel. Attackers stormed the raddison blue oh hotel, at least three of dead. Its not clear the fate of the 170 hostages. In europe, emergency talks are held in brussels discussing tightening borders and enhancing security in the wake of paris attacks. In france, prosecutors say a third body has been found at the scene of that raid north of paris. That is where the suspect organizer of the attacks was killed earlier this week. Michael is a former f. B. I. Special agent joining us now. Every time we see an attack like in paris, there is a focus on radical ideology as a motive. You have argued that is not the right focus. What is . Right, one of the things you have to understand is terrorism is a tactic and when we focus on the ideology and this is a perfect example where we have isis and alqaeda, they share an ideology but theyre at war with each other, its about politics and political control. Terrorism is a tactic designed to provoke a typical reaction, overreaction that both expands the conflict so that there is more effort and opportunity for the terrorist group to seize territory and to divide the population. They want a government reaction that has a discriminatory effect against the muslim population, here particularly a syrian population. They want to project that there is a divide between the west and muslims, so any government effort that then creates that divide or creates that discrimination helps the terrorists make their argument. So you have worked undercover with terrorists, specifically with White Supremacists here in the u. S. What should be done . Certainly something must be done. Is it in in tell, in security . All of the above. One of the things we have to be clear about is here we are 14 and a half years after we started a war on terrorism, that europe is talking in the same language about a war object terrorism against group that is didnt even exist when we started our war on terrorism. I think we have to step back and look at our tactics to make sure we are only employing tactics that are effective. Is there research youve done that says what tactics work . What tactics work are general Law Enforcement tactics. When we look at what these how weve react as far as intelligence gathering and information sharing, wed widened the scope of collection, and what happens is you lose the signal in the noise. In almost all these case, even the 9 11 example, the intelligence agencies had information, you this just werent managing it and werent reacting to it properly. Youre saying dont necessarily throw more resources at it, use your resources more wisely. And focus them based on evidence of what is happening and part of the problem is Terrorism Research has been more misleading than in formative in these matters and we have to make sure that were testing our methodology so its having an impact on the people doing harm and not on the people who arent. Thank you for your perspective this morning. Appreciate it. We continue following breaking news from mali this hour. Witnesses say the attackers stormed the rad don blue hotel. More on that just ahead. Al Jazeera America gives you the total news experience anytime, anywhere. More on every screen. Digital, mobile, social. Visit aljazeera. Com. Follow ajam on twitter. And like alJazeera America on facebook for more stories, more access, more conversations. So you dont just stay on top of the news, go deeper and get more perspectives on every issue. Al Jazeera America. Welcome back to your world this morning. It is 8 30 eastern. French prosecutors say a third body has been found at the scene of a raid north of paris where the suspected organizer of the paris attacks was killed. European leaders are holding emergency talks in brussels, promising to enhance security and tighten borders. Jonathan pollard has been released follow a federal prison. He was convicted of turning classified information over to israel. He is now on parole and not allowed to move to israel as hes requested. Gunmen attacked a hotel in mali, storming the Raddison Blu Hotel in bamako. Three are dead. The fate of the 170 hostages is not clear. We have a report from nearby nigeria. It is not clear whether these individuals, these people who were taken by these gunmen were freed by them or rescued by the special forces who we know are at the scene at the ground in the surrounds of the hotel. Some say they are inside the hotel. Its a fairly large hotel, several floors, initially reports that this whole thing was playing out on the seventh floor. Thats now been changed or resides even to the fifth floor. That seems to be where the situation is really taking place. Good news, obviously, that at least 80 people are out, and one has to imagine that they are currently sager information with the various Security Services who are on the ground about whats going on inside, who are those gunmen, what are they saying, what do they want, whats their plan, how well equipped are they, what kind of weapons do they have, are they making phone calls, these are the questions that the various agencies involved in trying to diffuse the situation will be asking those obviously very traumatized individuals about what has been going on inside. We know already that this situation is touching various communities in bamako. The United States has already put out a message on social media, warning citizens about an ongoing active shooting situation. We know other embassies and Diplomatic Missions warning citizens not to go out of their homes until the situation has been resolved. We are getting reports that at least 20 of the hostages might be of indian or in. Wouldnt surprise me, because in places like this, you do have large indian expat communities, many doing business, many running hoe tell the also imagining hotels like the raddison blu. This has the potential to affect various nations, and many people. Its a hotel frequented by expat receipts, its not diplomatic zone. Reports as we reported earlier, that, you know, the attackers may have even used diplomatic vehicles to get into the premises. Its a fast evolving, fast moving situation. Ok, yvonne with the latest from nigeria. Theres no evidence that theres connection to isil to the attacks last week. We have more on how the pentagon is assessing the fight against isil. The latest air strike videos show france and russia hitting more targets in isil held territory in syria. Here, russia takes a page from the u. S. Playbook, bombing trucks with fuel that isil sells on the market, although pentagon sources say without the leaflet drops the u. S. Employs to warn civilians away. As any student of warfare knows, air power has its limits. It cannot take, hold or govern territory. So be successful, airstrikes will have to be combined with Ground Forces actually taking back more territory from isis. Al jazeera has obtained the latest unreleased u. S. Military map assessing how the ground game is going. U. S. Central command judges that isil has lost 8500 square miles or 40 of the territory it once held in iraq, up from 37 three months ago. Retaking of sinjar by kurdish fighters one week ago was one reason isil lost ground. In syria, back in august, cent com estimated isil lost 10 of the area it occupied at its peak. The latest revised number is 770 square miles of lost territory, or 5 , indicating isil has gained ground even as its front lines have been pushed back. The assessment notes that isil still holds the strategic cities of rimadi in iraq and palmyra in syria. The u. S. Said strikes have been carefully calculated against dug in isil fighters, flushing them out into the open. As indigenous Friendly Forces maneuver against our enemy, it causes our enemy to move. The enemy has to react and as soon as the enemy reacts, we kill them from the air. They point to northeastern syria where a two week long offensive with what the u. S. Calls Syrian Democratic forces drove isil out of some 280 square miles and 200 small villages. The u. S. Coalition supported the offensive with 79 airstrikes, which, it says helped kill 300 isil fighters. Jamey macintyre, al jazeera, the pentagon. Hillary clinton says the u. S. Must lead the effort to destroy isil, but called on arab nations to step up their involvement in the wake of the paris attacks. Our efforts will only succeed if the arabs and turks step up in a much bigger way. This is their fight, and they need to act like it. On thursday, clinton said she thinks Ground Forces may be needed, along with airstrikes to take back more territory from isil. She said those troops must come from a coalition of countries, not just the u. S. She reiterated her support for a no fly sewn over syria. The u. S. Has spent tens of billions of dollars arming and training Security Forces in afghanistan. Last august, 15 were killed during a joint u. S. And afghan operation south of kabul. Fault line pieced together what happened that day with investigation. We warn you what you are about to see is disturbing. I learned from the u. N. That after 15 civilians killed during the military operation, four of them were boys. One of them was 11yearold. His 13yearold brother told me they were out collecting wheat together. We are joined via skype from copenhagen. Hello, this is josh rushing. I know you spent a long time on this report. Can you tell us your major finding . The major finding of the story is actually that this case hasnt been actually covered by Neither National media or international media, a very disturbing case with 15 civilians who died, who were killed, actually, four are them were boys, they were children, and what we found out that according to sources on the ground, it was a joint afghan and u. S. Operation in this area, and we tried to get in touch with the americans. We got in touch with them. We asked about this case, and its months ago and we still havent heard from them. Are the results of this kind of raid unique or unusual in afghanistan . No, these raids are not unusual. This is the kind of raids they do into villages, where there are suspected members of the taliban, and it is a kind of a cleaning up raids and normally, you know, they are not at problematic at this once, normally, people dont get killed. A lot of times when you hear about a civilian casualty caused by international forces, its because of aerial bombing. In this case, everybody theyve been shot, not everybody, sorry, one, we have one case where actually its more disturbing than the other cases, a man was beaten up, according to sources, he was beaten to death, and we further investigated this case and found out that actually seven Afghan Soldiers have been convicted in this case and according to sources, American Forces were present and watching while this was happening, without intervening. The seven soldiers convict for the one murder, but there were 14 other people who died on that day. What were you able to uncover about who was responsible for those deaths . Its really difficult to say, because we hear a lot of Different Things from the sources. What is clear is that according to a lot of independent sources, people we spoke to, you know, alone, and they told us that they were not killed by the taliban, these people. They were killed by either ana or u. S. Forces. We dont know. Thats the problem with that case, there hasnt been an investigation. All the relatives are still asking questions about why this happened and who was responsible for this. The other cases of not been investigated and the locals in this area, they are still calling for investigation. Thank you so much for reporting this on fault lines. You can watch the full report this sunday at 9 00 p. M. Eastern, 6 00 p. M. Pacific, here on alJazeera America. A new report suggests there are more mexicans actually leaving the u. S. Than coming. The Pugh Research center says from 20092014, more than 1 million mexicans left the United States. During that same period, a little more than 865,000 mexicans entered the u. S. That would mean 140,000 more people moving into mexico. The figures include undocumented immigrants. Researchers say an increasing number of mexicans say life here in the u. S. Is neither better nor worse than life in their home country. Record breaking temperatures month after month raise the odds that this year will be the hottest on that record. Science and Technology Correspondent jacob ward explains why. October of 2015 was a record breaking month in the middle of a record breaking year. It is announce that had october was literally the hottest year, the hottest month on record in 136 years of Record Keeping. It was almost a full degree celsius, electric two degrees fahrenheit off of the 20 centuries average for octobers. That makes it an extraordinary year. We saw record land temperatures in australia, asia, africa, the western United States. Were literally talking here about every part of the earth, seeing record temperatures. This comes at the same time that nooa is reveal that the first 10 months are the hottest on that record in 1300 months recorded. We are talking about this being the absolutely hottest ever. This comes on the heel of other news, new realization that is huge swaths of the worlds population are dependent on snow melt for water supply, because rain will not do it. They need snow to bank water over time and that is not happening with these new record temperatures. We are talking about places like syria, iraq and the water basin that serves them and basically all of california apartment snow melt that serves us, all of that is fed by snow. It seems that now that things are changing as rapidly as they are, we may not have the science to predict how fast things might change in the future. This is all a function of a literal sort of change thats happening in front of our eyes. Certainly this realization that october has been the hottest, again, in 136 years of Record Keeping showing that something is happening right in front of us. For more on the rising temperatures, lets bring in meteorologist Nicole Mitchell for her take. Good morning. The reason we are talking about october now. [ crashing sound ] [ laughter ] we are talking about the whole world. Compiling those numbers, you usually get it in the next month, thats why we have october being released. While i dont have the whole world to date in november, i can talk to the United States. This is what it looks like through november 17. With exception of the blues in the southwest United States, the entire country has seen above average temperatures, some very significantly, the midwest, a lot of these temperatures eight degrees or more. You heard me talk a little earlier in the show about minneapolis. Weve averaged 11 degrees above average so far this month up through yesterday. Yesterday was the first day all month we didnt have an above average temperature at 38. The average is 38, yesterday was right around that at 37 and the next couple of days below average for earlier in the month we had temperatures in the 60s, even in the 70s. Thats why a little below average versus all those days above average, we have such a contrast. Weve had cooler air move in, thats also supporting some areas of snow and thats going to cause problems in places like iowa today. Could be over sixinches of snowfall easily with isolated spots as much as a foot. The rest of the weekend looking fairly quiet, except for this, this gets down to the south. Thank you nicole. The daily fan industry would prohibit people under the age of 21 from playing Fantasy Sports games. There needs to be more disclosure about how these contests work and about who people are playing against. This is an industry, as so many have already acknowledged that cries out for transparency and robust consumer protections. Massachusetts is taking a different approach than new york. On tuesday, that state sought a Court Injunction to shut down fan duel and draft kings. Gunmen attacking the raddison blu. Hostages are still being held inside. Much more just ahead. An update on the breaking news from mali. The owner of a luxury hotel said 137 people are still held by armed gunman. A small group of u. S. Special Operations Forces have helped move civilians to secured locations in mali. This is unfolding inside the raddison blu in malis capital. At least three are confirmed dead. According to mali state t. V. , 80 hostages have gotten out and it is still not clear if they were released or escaped. Homelessness in the u. S. Is on the decline. A report by the housing and urban Development Shows homelessness fell 2 from last year. It shows chronic homelessness in decline from 22 between 2010 and 2015. Researchers warn the figures come from comparing the localless for a single day each year. Nicaragua approved plans to build a canal three times bigger than the panama canal. Scientists are concerned about the environmental impact. Technos phil torres reports. There is no better way to understand lake nicaragua nan this. This isnt exactly what we planned, waves and winds are brutal. Soon we are to lose one of our cameras. We are here in the middle of lake nicaragua, one of the National Newspapers took Something Like this into the lake, a depth finder. They went up and down the proposed canal route. What they found, its shallow, much too shallow for any of those giant super tankers. This documentary from the nicaraguan newspaper. They would have to dig out 20 meters. Where are they going to put it . What does that mean for the lake . There needs to be more studies done. Judging by the conditions we saw, dredging would be a nightmare, something dr. Montenegro showed us on his computer. Thats the wind going across the canal. Yes . So the canal is bad for the lake, the lake is bad for the canal. Very bad. So why do you think they still want to do this . I dont have the answer why they want to do this. In los angeles, im phil torres, for al jazeera. You can see the full report on the great divide this saturday an techno at 5 30 p. M. Eastern. We continue following breaking news from mali this hour. Gunman attacking a luxury hotel in the capital, at least 137 people are still held inside. More on that just ahead. This is one of the most important sites in the century. This linked the mafia and the church. Why do you think you didnt get the medal of honor . I cant allow you not to go into that because that is your job. We gonna bring this city back one note at a time. Proudest moment in my life. Al Jazeera America brings you independent reporting without spin. Not everybody is asking the questions youre asking me today. We give you more perspectives the separatists took control a few days ago. And a global view. Now everybody in this country can hear them. Getting the story firsthand. They have travelled for weeks, sometimes months. Whats your message then . We need help now. Youre watching al Jazeera America. We are following breaking news from mali, where gunmen attacked a luxury hotel in the capitol, the raddison blu. The hotel owner said 137 people are still being held by armed gunman. The majority of guests. At least three are dead. The u. S. Military confirms are to al jazeera that special forces, America Special forces are helping with the hostage Recovery Efforts and moving civilians to secure locations. State t. V. Says 80 of the hostages have gotten out. Its not clear if they were released or escaped or somehow assisted by the French Special forces that have also been operating at the hotel as this ongoing hostage situation continues. These are pictures from inside the hotel. Josh, you were a Public Affairs officer for the u. S. Military for sometime. How unusual is it to have special Operations Forces helping out in this type of situation . These guys would be specifically trained to operate in those environments. They are not going to be the lead element, not going to be the ones busting down the doors and heading in to engage, that would be mali backed up by french, but they would be a tertiary force, meaning at civilians get out, they will get them to a secondary area, cordons off the area, helping with those thins. The u. S. Happen in mali with special forces that fall within French Forces. They have been in mali for years and operating in the horn of africa, helping to train in many cases, my understanding, local military forces. Is it unusual that have them announce that special Operations Forces are on the ground in mali during an ongoing hostage situation. Its not something that has been a very public story. We have known that there are u. S. Special operators on the ground in mali because a couple in the past have had legal problems there. There was a car crash and investigation into it where some locals were killed, so it is a fairly open secret. I imagine that they had to acknowledge it in this case, because they are moving the civilians from the hotel to this separate area, so it would be quite obvious that these are americans. Im sure with the media that are now congregating asking questions, who are the americans and what are they doing there. What are the risks . This is on on going hostage situation and to some degree, im asking what the risks would be to assisting civilians. Well, the biggest risk here is whats happening inside the hotel. I doubt there are u. S. Special operators inside the hotel. Secondary risk as in paris, its not Just One Team attacking now. You might have other teams around the city preparing for a secondary attack. They want to get civilians that are western targets to a safe place as soon as possible, so the u. S. Is taking part in that. In terms of managing the risks around them, these are probably some of the most highly trained forces in the world, so they are army able to deal with that risk. Here is more on what we know about the recent tensions in mali, just for context. There was a military coup in 2012. Shortly after that, fighters with alqaeda took parts of the northern port of the country, a United Nations peacekeeping operation has quickly become its most Dangerous Mission on record. 53 u. N. Forces have been killed that in west african nation so far and despite that, 12,000 u. N. Peace keepers remain in mali. One of the questions this morning is how the Security Posture for the u. N. Peacekeeping forces will change in the days ahead. We are continuing to follow that story. Thats it for us here in new york. We are bringing you our continuing coverage on a motel in mali. Gunman shouting islamic slogans have taken hostages. 170 people were originally being held. Several of them have been released, but three people were killed. Here is a closer look at where the raddison blue is located in the mali capital. The massive hotel takes up a whole block. Its in the Western District of ma
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