Gunmen burst into the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali's capital of Bamako on Friday and took some 170 guests and staff members hostage. There are casualties, but many details are murky. (We're following the story on the Two-Way Blog.)

Mali has been unstable in recent years, with radical Islamists battling a government that has been supported by French troops. Friday's assault in Mali comes just a week after the attacks in Paris, with the world still jittery about terror attacks.

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