Bamako – Four Malian soldiers were killed by suspected jihadists on Sunday and several others wounded in an attack northeast of the capital Bamako, near the border with Mauritania, the army said on social media.
The soldiers, on post at Guire, in the Nara region, fought off an attack by “an armed terrorist group” said a statement from the army, using a term generally used to refer to jihadists.
Four soldiers were killed and another 14 wounded, while six of the attackers were also killed, they added.
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Mali has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency which first broke out in the north of the country in 2012 before spreading to the centre and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes, while the economic impact on one of the world’s poorest countries has been devastating.
The violence has continued despite the deployment of international forces, including UN peacekeepers, and French and African forces.
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Picture: Getty Images
Source: AFP
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