There were shouts of Jesus is Great! Allah Akbar, but who really knows?

Al Qaeda-linked jihadists claimed responsibility for an ongoing and deadly hostage-taking at a hotel in Mali’s capital Friday, as U.S. and Malian special forces worked to free at least 90 people who were still inside.

Malian army commander Modibo Nama Traore told The Associated Press that at least one guest earlier reported that the attackers instructed him to recite verses from the Koran before he was allowed to leave the Radisson Blu hotel in Mali’s capital, Bamako. At least three people have died in the assault, according to another military official, Lt. Col. Diarran Kone.

Traore said Malian special forces have entered the hotel and are freeing hostages “floor by floor.” Hours after the attacks began, local TV images showed heavily armed troops in what appeared to be a lobby area. Some U.S. military personnel in Bamako are assisting with the rescue efforts, a defense official told Fox News.

Traore said 10 gunmen had stormed the hotel Friday morning 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 attackers used grenades in the assault.

Al-Mourabitoun, a militant group based in northern Mali, said on Twitter that it was behind the attack, but the claim could not immediately be verified, Reuters reports. A handful of jihadi groups, some linked to Al Qaeda, seized the northern half of Mali — a former French colony — in 2012 and were ousted from cities and towns by a French military intervention.