3 yıl önce

Several soldiers killed in central Mali attack

Sixteen soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in an attack that occurred near the village of Bodio in central Mali, local officials said.

Reuters

Malian soldiers are pictured during a patrol with soldiers from the new Takuba force near Niger border in Dansongo Circle, Mali on August 23, 2021.

Sixteen soldiers have been killed and ten wounded in an attack in central Mali, security and health officials officials in the war-torn Sahel state said.

Mali's army had earlier said in a statement on Wednesday five soldiers had been killed and eight wounded. However, a health official working in central Mali said the death toll had risen to 16, with 10 soldiers wounded.

A security source, who requested anonymity, confirmed the toll.

Mali's army said the troops had repelled a "complex IED attack," referring to an improvised explosive device.

A military source who requested anonymity, as well as local officials, said that the attack occurred in the volatile centre of the country.

Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of the nearby town of Bankass, told Reuters the attack occurred near the village of Bodio.

Mali has been struggling to contain an extremist insurgency that first erupted in the north in 2012 and has since claimed thousands of military and civilian lives.

Despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, the conflict has engulfed central Mali and spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Central Mali has become one of the most violent hotspots of the Sahel-wide conflict, where ethnic killings and attacks on government forces are frequent.

Four Malian soldiers were killed by an IED blast in the region on September 20. An extremist ambush also killed five soldiers in central Mali on September 12.

Laying roadside bombs - or IEDs - is a common tactic of extremist groups in the region.

SOURCE: AFP