Breaking News: 21 People Were Killed in the Radission Blu Hotel Attack in Bamako Mali.

  A total of 21 people were killed in Friday's attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in the Mali capital of Bamako, United Nations spokesman Olivier Salgado said .

Assailants with guns blazing attacked a hotel hosting diplomats and others in Mali's capital Friday morning, leaving at least 10 people dead and trapping dozens in the building for hours, officials in the West African nation said.

Malian and U.N. security forces launched a counterattack at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako and escorted guests out. By late Friday afternoon, no hostages were believed to remain in the building, though attackers still were inside, Malian army Col.Mamadou Coulibaly told reporters.

At least 10 bodies have been found in a hall of the hotel, Coulibaly said. At least six people injured in the attack have been hospitalized, Mali Health Minister Marie Madeleine Togo told state broadcaster ORTM.

Video aired by ORTM showed security personnel leading people out of the building.

The assault began around 7 a.m., when two or three attackers with AK-47 rifles exited at least one vehicle with diplomatic plates and entered the hotel with guns firing, said Olivier Saldago, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali.

The attack, Saldago said, came as the hotel hosted diplomatic delegations working on a peace process in the landlocked country, a former French colony that has been battling Islamist extremists with the help of U.N. and French forces.

The Radisson chain said that as many as 170 people -- 140 guests and 30 employees had been there as the attack began.

A total of 21 people were killed in Friday's attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in the Mali capital of Bamako, United Nations spokesman Olivier Salgado said.

Assailants with guns blazing attacked a hotel hosting diplomats and others in Mali's capital Friday morning, leaving at least 10 people dead and trapping dozens in the building for hours, officials in the West African nation said.

Malian and U.N. security forces launched a counterattack at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako and escorted guests out. By late Friday afternoon, no hostages were believed to remain in the building, though attackers still were inside, Malian army Col. Mamadou Coulibaly told reporters.

At least 10 bodies have been found in a hall of the hotel, Coulibaly said. At least six people injured in the attack have been hospitalized, Mali Health Minister Marie Madeleine Togo told state broadcaster ORTM.

The assault began around 7 a.m., when two or three attackers with AK-47 rifles exited at least one vehicle with diplomatic plates and entered the hotel with guns firing, said Olivier Saldago, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali.

The attack, Saldago said, came as the hotel hosted diplomatic delegations working on a peace process in the landlocked country, a former French colony that has been battling Islamist extremists with the help of U.N. and French forces.

The Radisson chain said that as many as 170 people -- 140 guests and 30 employees -- had been there as the attack began.

"We're still hearing erratic gunfire," journalist Katarina Hoije told CNN from near the scene Friday afternoon.

The Radisson Blu Hotel is in an upscale neighborhood outside the center of Bamako, rising high above the dusty streets and surrounding houses.

 With 190 rooms and suites, it is known as a hub for international guests such as diplomats and businesspeople, and it is a 15-minute drive from Bamako-Senou International Airport.

Culled from CNN