At least two people are thought to have died as gunmen stage an attack on a luxury resort in Mali which is popular with expats and Western tourists, officials have said.

Witnesses reported that shots were heard as the armed assailants stormed the Le Campement de Kangaba resort in Dougourakoro, just outside the capital of Bamako.

There attackers were also believed to have taken hostages, though that has not been confirmed.

One of those killed is French-Gabonese and the nationality of the other victim is not yet known, a spokesman for the security ministry told Reuters.

"Suspected jihadists" were thought to be behind the incident, a Government spokesman told AFP.

Soldiers have rushed to the scene.

Mali is fighting radical Islamist terrorists who have been responsible for a surge of attacks in the country.

Terrorists killed 27 people at the Radisson Blu in Bamako in 2015 in a siege where they took 170 hostages.

That attack was claimed by two Islamist terror groups - Al Mourabitoun and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

The Foreign Office advice warns: "Terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Mali.

"Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners."

It advises against all but essential travel to the south of the country including Bamako and the surrounding areas, and says Britons should not travel to the rest of the country in any circumstances.