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BAMAKO, Mali (AFP) — Six troopers have been killed and 20 injured in simultaneous assaults concentrating on three military bases in central Mali Sunday, the Malian military mentioned.
Targets in Sevare, Niono and Bapho have been all hit by “armed terrorist teams (who) used suicide autos filled with explosives”, the military mentioned in a press release.
A bunch linked to the firebrand preacher Amadou Koufa claimed the assaults, in keeping with audio despatched to AFP Sunday from a supply near the suspected attackers.
The group, Katiba of Macina, belongs to the Group to Assist Islam and Muslims (GSIM), an Al-Qaeda-linked alliance and the most important jihadist community within the Sahel.
“On Sunday morning, the mujahideen of the Katiba of Macina struck three camps of the (Malian armed forces),” a member of the group instructed AFP in an audio message.
The supply mentioned Bapho and Niono have been hit, according to data from Mali’s military.
It additionally mentioned Segou was attacked, which was not among the many targets talked about by the Malian military.
“We hit these camps on the identical time inside 5 minutes of one another. (Other than the) deaths, we triggered materials injury to them,” the audio recording mentioned.
Navy sources earlier instructed AFP the assaults occurred at 0500 GMT in Sevare, Niono and Bapho, all within the centre of the nation.
The Malian military mentioned six troopers died and 15 have been injured in Sevare, whereas 11 attackers together with the suicide car driver have been killed.
One other soldier was injured in Bapho and an extra 4 in Niono.
– ’10 terrorists neutralised’ –
In Sevare, “there was a double terrorist assault with photographs fired and equipment exploded. The military retaliated,” one of many army sources mentioned.
Together with the 11 attackers killed, three extra have been arrested, the military mentioned, including that “numerous army gear” had been recovered from the attackers.
In a separate incident, a army unit on patrol in central Mali was ambushed and “10 terrorists have been neutralized”, the military mentioned.
“The scenario is beneath management. The FAMa (Malian armed forces) are combing by means of the goal sectors and safety measures are being bolstered in all rights of method,” it mentioned in its assertion.
“We’ve requested MINUSMA (the UN Mission in Mali), as a part of our collaboration, to ship a speedy intervention power close to the Sevare camp to assist safe it,” the supply continued.
A separate army supply inside MINUSMA confirmed the knowledge.
MINUSMA “strongly condemned” the assaults and confirmed it had deployed a speedy response power to Sevare in a Twitter put up.
The collapse of a police station triggered a lot of the troopers’ deaths in Sevare, the military assertion mentioned, including {that a} helicopter and two autos had additionally been broken.
The military mentioned it had collected two AK-47 assault rifles, cell phones and army gear from the attackers.
– Regional instability –
One of many poorest nations on the earth, Mali is fighting a decade-long jihadist insurgency that has claimed 1000’s of lives and pushed tons of of 1000’s from their houses.
Unrest brought on by teams affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group has additionally unfold into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
The most recent assault on the Malian army got here as Burkina Faso on Sunday reported that 5 of its troopers died in a jihadist assault that killed round 10 individuals within the north of the nation.
Public anger at elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s failure to roll again the insurgency supplied the spark for a army takeover in Mali in August 2020.
The insurgency’s southward advance from northern Mali prompted France to intervene in 2013 as violence elevated with the formation of ethnic-based self-defense teams and legal gangs.
However Paris in February introduced it will finish its virtually decade-long army operation in Mali amid a diplomatic disaster with the Bamako junta over its alleged use of Russian mercenaries.
The Malian authorities denies the accusations and says it’s utilizing Russian army instructors.
France and america have mentioned they’re fighters from the personal paramilitary group Wagner, whose presence has been recorded in different conflict-torn African nations such because the Central African Republic and Libya.
© Agence France-Presse
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