Mali bar attack kills five in Bamako

Five people have been killed in a machine-gun and grenade attack on a bar in Mali's capital, Bamako.

A masked gunman opened fire at La Terrasse bar, killing a French national.

A Belgian security guard working for the EU and three Malians also died at or near the site of the attack.

Witnesses say the attackers shouted "God is Great" in Arabic ("Allahu Akbar"). It is the first attack of its kind in the capital.

Police sources said two people connected to the incident had been detained.

The attack on La Terrasse came as a surprise as Bamako, in the south, has been free
of terror attacks

It is not clear who carried out the attack, but al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants have been fighting the army in northern Mali for a number of years. France intervened two years ago to stop their advance south on Bamako.

French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack as "cowardly" and his foreign minister Laurent Fabius said it would strengthen the former colonial power's resolve to "fight terrorism in all its forms".

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders also called it a "cowardly act of terror".

European Council President Donald Tusk said the EU would "not be intimidated by terrorism, at home or abroad" and would "remain steadfast in support of Mali and its people".

Quick escape

Our reporter says French soldiers arrived quickly after the attack on the first-floor nightclub on Saturday.

They confirmed that a man killed at the bar, in the Hippodrome area of the capital popular with expatriates, was a French national.

One of the Malian victims is believed to have been a police officer, and the other a security guard, our correspondent says.