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Soldiers in Mali have surrounded a hotel in the central town of Sevare where suspected Islamist militants are holding at least one foreign hostage, a defence spokesman has told the BBC.

"At this stage we can confirm there are dead and wounded on all sides, and hostages," Lt Col Diarran Kone said.

Ukraine's foreign ministry says one of its nationals is being held hostage.

Residents told the BBC that before the attack, gunmen on motorbikes warned people via loudhailers to go indoors.

Sevare has an air force base and some UN peacekeepers are in the town.

The BBC's Alex Duval Smith in Mali says the town, which is about 600km (370 miles) north-east of the capital, Bamako, is the trading hub that serves the historic riverside city of Mopti.

The Byblos Hotel, scene of the ongoing incident, was reportedly attacked early on Friday morning by gunmen who had spent the night at the nearby Debo Hotel.

"An armed attack has been carried out on a hotel in Mali, and a Ukrainian national is among the hostages. Jointly with our international partners, we are taking urgent steps to free our citizen," Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Mariana Betsa said on Twitter.

Our reporter says there are several hotels near each other in the town that are popular with UN workers and those working for non-governmental organisations.

The BBC has learned that guests from France, South Africa and Ukraine are registered at the hotels, but it is not clear if they are caught up in the operation.

UN spokeswoman Radhia Achouri refused to say whether any UN members of staff had been affected or were being held hostage in the Byblos Hotel.

Bah Napo, whose brother owns the Flandres hotel in the same neighbourhood, said: "We have never seen anything like this is Sevare.

"In 2012, the jihadists from the north were stopped at Konna, about 50km from here. So we only saw the war on television. Now that it has come to Sevare we are all traumatised."

Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants have been fighting the army in northern Mali for a number of years.

France, the former colonial power in Mali, intervened in January 2013 to stop their advance south to the capital.

Credit: The BBC