france24.com
A Ukrainian hostage managed to escape from the “four or five terrorists” who were still barricaded inside the hotel, telling soldiers he had been with three South Africans and a Russian when the shooting began, according to The Guardian.
The nationalities of all the hostages were unclear, though the governments of Russia and Ukraine confirmed they each had a national among them, the report says.
Five foreigners were evacuated and a number of hostages freed after they were trapped by gunmen in a hotel standoff with soldiers in central Mali that left 12 people dead, military sources have said.
“We cannot say that everything is finished but a number of hostages [were freed],” a source said early on Saturday after Malian forces were deployed around the Hotel Byblos in Sevare.