Three Quebecers among hostages freed from Mali hotel

Maxime Carrier-Légaré, Pierre Boivin and Patrice Martin are among the hostages freed from a hotel in Bamako, Mali, that was attacked Friday morning by Islamic extremists.

None of the three was hurt during the ordeal, which left 27 people dead.

• Mali hotel hostages all freed now, government official says

Malian commandos stormed the luxury Radisson Blu hotel after gunmen took 170 people, including many foreigners, hostage in the capital of the former French colony, which has been battling rebels allied to al-Qaeda for several years.

Carrier-Légaré has worked for Quebec's National Assembly for six years and is now based in Paris, where he is attached to the Assemblée parlementaire de la francophonie.  

He was in Mali to offer training in parliamentary methods at the Senghor-Alexandrie University of  Alexandria, Egypt. He was expected to return to Paris in the coming hours.

Martin is a former Gatineau city councillor who now works for the Parliament of Canada. 

His friend and former council colleague Alain Riel said he spoke to Martin over the phone after he left the hotel.

"He told me everything happened on the same floor as his hotel room and he thought that was it," Riel said.

"It [all happened] next to his door, next to his room. He's in shock. He mentioned to me that one person from his group was killed, I understand it was a party of French and Canadians… was it a French or a Canadian [citizen], I don't know."

Boivin is a lawyer who works for the McCarthy Tétrault law firm. 

Many foreigners were in town for a pair of events held by the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie.