BAMAKO – Unidentified gunmen attacked a hotel in Mali’s capital Bamako on Monday that had been converted into a base for a European Union military training mission in the West African nation, a Defence Ministry official and a witness said.

“The attackers tried to force through the entry and the guards posed in front of the entrance opened fire. One attacker was killed. The gunfire continued for several minutes,” said one witness near the Nord-Sud hotel.

A Defence Ministry spokesman confirmed that shots had been fired at the hotel.