AKIPRESS.COM - At least 27 people died after 170 people were taken hostage at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali in West Africa, according to the United Nations.

The attack, conducted by at least three people, began Friday in Mali's capital city of Bamako, with gunmen storming the building. A U.S. defense official said the crisis has ended, reports ABC News. 

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and its offshoot al-Murabitoun said they carried out the attack, BBC reports. 

Speaking after a crisis cabinet meeting late on Friday, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced the state of emergency from midnight on Friday for 10 days, as well as three days of national mourning.

A UN official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 12 bodies were found in the basement and 15 on the second floor.

One of the hostages killed was Geoffrey Dieudonne, a member of parliament in Belgium's Wallonia region.

China's state news agency Xinhua says three Chinese nationals are among the dead.

The US state department said one US citizen was killed. She was named as Anita Datar, 41, senior manager at an international development company and a former aid worker.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said three Britons in the hotel were safe.

Pictures showed that some of the hostages leaving the hotel were wounded.

US President Barack Obama said the attack was yet another reminder that the "scourge of terrorism" threatened many nations.

He said the barbarity of the assault "only stiffens our resolve to meet this challenge". 

The US-owned hotel is popular with foreign businesses and airline crews.

Eyewitnesses said up to 13 gunmen had entered the hotel shooting and shouting "God is greatest!" in Arabic.