At least 15 Malian soldiers were killed Thursday in an attack attributed to militants from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM) in central Mali, military sources and local officials told AFP on Friday.
"At least 15 Malian soldiers were killed Thursday in an ambush by jihadists from the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM). There are also missing and wounded soldiers," an elected official from the Mopti region (central) told AFP.
Another elected official, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, told AFP that the Malian soldiers killed were "a gendarme and 14 members of the National Guard" according to a "provisional" count.
He spoke of "the disappearance of other soldiers and army equipment seized by the attackers."
A Malian military source contacted in Mopti, the capital of the central region, said that "the terrorists lost a larger number of personnel."
"The incidents occurred 5 kilometres from Dialasagou," said a local administration official, adding that "there were more than 10 wounded and more than 15 dead among the Malian army."
Since 2012, Mali has been the scene of deadly attacks by various groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as self-defence forces, bandits and criminal gangs.
The violence has spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger. All three countries have experienced military coups.
תגובות