At this hour, both American and French special forces are inside the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, Mali after gunmen stormed the hotel shouting “Allahu Akbar!!!” killing three people and holding an estimated 170 hostage. As of this writing, approximately 30 of the hostages have been freed.

This attack takes place exactly one week after the Paris terrorist attacks. While no one has claimed responsibility, I believe a case can be made this attack was as much an attack against France as it is against Mali. Of course, Mali is a former French colony which sought help from France in 2013 following an Islamist takeover of the northern half of the country which was briefly renamed Azawad by the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA).

But the MNLA would be pushed out by even more hardline Islamic groups like Ansar Dine as well as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the Movement for Oneness & Jihad in West Africa (MOJWA). While none of these groups have an affiliation with ISIS they sough to establish an Islamic state and impose Shari’a law. Well, French President François Hollande saw to it that French troops put a stop to those plans. Now that France is fighting back against ISIS following last week’s attack it was inevitable that there would be attacks against French interests. Don’t be surprised to see acts of Islamic terrorism carried out in other former French colonies.