BAMAKO, Mali — Islamic extremists ***** with **** and throwing grenades stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali’s capital Friday morning, ******* at least three people and taking numerous ********, authorities said. Employees of both Air France and ******* Airlines were staying at the hotel when the ****** occurred.

Air France has cancelled its Paris-Bamako flight after the ****** with spokesman Ulli Gendrot saying the “3852 flight has been cancelled.” It was due later Friday.

Malian troops, backed by special forces from America and France, reacted quickly to the ******. As people ran for their lives near the luxury hotel along a dirt road, the soldiers in full combat **** pointed the way to safety. Within hours, local TV images showed heavily ***** troops in what appeared to be a lobby area.

Malian state TV reported that 80 people in the hotel when the ******* began have been freed. At least one Canadian man was reportedly among them.

Malian special forces were freeing ******** “floor by floor,” Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traore told The Associated Press. Still, Rezidor Hotel, the Brussels-based group that operates the hotel, said hours after the ******* began that 125 guests and 13 employees were still in the hotel.

U.S. special forces troops were assisting Malian forces in ******* rescue efforts, said Col. Mark Cheadle of the U.S. Army’s Africa Command. President Barack Obama said he’s monitoring the situation.

France’s national gendarme service said about 40 French special ****** forces were playing a support role at the hotel.

The guests at the sprawling, cream-and-pink colored luxury hotel, which has 190 rooms and features a spa, outdoor pool and ballroom, came from many countries. But the ****** was perceived by many in France, particularly in the government, as a new ****** on French interests, a week after the Paris *******.

The French military operation in Mali in 2013 against Islamic extremists who were holding the northern half of the country was the first of several foreign interventions that President Francois Hollande has launched as president. Those interventions have prompted increased threats against France and French interests from Islamic extremist groups from al-Qaida’s North African arm to the Islamic State group.

French news websites and all-news television networks immediately switched from nearly non-stop coverage of the Paris ******* ************* and ********* to nearly non-stop coverage of the Bamako standoff. Air France says 12 members of one of its plane crew who are staying at the attacked hotel in Bamako are all safe.

******* Airlines says a sixth crew member has been freed from a hotel in Mali that was stormed by ***** ******. A statement from the company said Friday that one employee remains inside the hotel.

Traore said at least one guest reported that the ********* instructed him to recite verses from the Qur’an before he was allowed to leave the hotel.

It was not immediately clear which ****** extremist groups might be behind the ******, which unfolded one week after the ******* on Paris that ****** 129 people. A handful of jihadi groups seized the northern half of Mali — a former French colony — in 2012 and were ousted from cities and towns by the French military intervention.

French President Francois Hollande said: “We should yet again stand firm and show our solidarity with a friendly country, Mali.”

Traore said 10 ****** had stormed the hotel shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great,” in Arabic before firing on the guards. A staffer at the hotel who gave his name as Tamba Diarra said over the phone that the ********* used grenades in the *******.

Monique Kouame Affoue Ekonde, from Ivory Coast, said she and six other people, including a ******* woman, were escorted out by security forces as the ****** rushed “toward the fifth or sixth floor.”

“I think they are still there. I’ve left the hotel and I don’t know where to go. I’m tired and in a state of shock,” she said.

Belgian foreign minister Didier Reynders said that four Belgians were registered at the hotel but their whereabouts were unknown.

Citing Chinese diplomats in Mali, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that about 10 Chinese citizens were sheltering inside their hotel rooms. The embassy was in phone contact with them and all were reported safe, according to the report. All are employees of Chinese companies working in Mali.

Five ******* Airlines personnel were among the freed ********, Turkey’s state-run news agency said.

The U.N. mission said it was sending security reinforcements and medical aid to the scene. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said some U.N. “quick-reaction forces” deployed to the hotel and are supporting Malian and other security forces. He said the United Nations had a few staff members in the Radisson hotel at the time of the ****** but they are all safely out.

Ambulances were seen rushing to the hotel as a military helicopter flew overhead.

Northern Mali remains insecure and militant ******* have extended farther south this year, including the capital. In March masked ****** shot up a restaurant in Bamako that is popular with foreigners, ******* five people.

About 1,000 French troops remain in the country. The Netherlands also has troops working with the UN mission in Mali. According to the Dutch defence ministry, some 450 Dutch military personnel are taking part in the mission along with four Apache and three Chinook helicopters. Most of the Dutch force is based in Gao, but there are a few officers at the U.N. mission headquarters in Bamako.