armed group kills 17 soldiers at mali base
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Armed group kills 17 soldiers at Mali base

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Armed group kills 17 soldiers at Mali base

Soldiers in the back of a pickup truck drive down a street during a demonstration in Gao
Bamako - Arab Today

Seventeen soldiers were killed and 35 wounded in central Mali in an assault on their base that authorities called a "coordinated terrorist attack".

"The toll has increased: we have lost 17 men and 35 are wounded," Mali's defence minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly said. Authorities had earlier announced that 12 soldiers were killed. 

Coulibaly called the assault a "coordinated terrorist attack on our positions," but did not say who was responsible.

In the hours after the assaults two groups -- one jihadist, the other ethnic -- both claimed to have carried out the raid on the military camp in Nampala.

Islamist group Ansar Dine said in a message that it carried out a "huge attack" that had killed "dozens of soldiers and wound(ed) large numbers," according to the US-based group SITE that monitors jihadist communications.

Ansar Dine, which is one of several active jihadist groups roaming Mali's north, also claimed to have taken control of the army barracks and carried off a large quantity of "spoils".

Earlier on Tuesday, a group from the ethnic Peul community, calling themselves the National Alliance for the Protection of Peul Identity and Restoration of Justice (ANSIPRJ), said they had killed eight troops in the attack.

- 'We are being careful' -

"It was self-defence," Sidy Cisse, a senior ANSIPRJ commander, told AFP, adding three of his men were hurt.

The group also claimed to have wounded 11 soldiers, as well as making off with two trucks and five pick-up trucks.

Senior figures within ANSIPRJ are also members of a Peul association that decried the murder of what it said were several Peuls falsely accused of supporting jihadists active in the area.

Several security sources in the region told AFP they doubted the veracity of the claim of responsibility from ANSIPRJ as the group was only founded last month following inter-communal clashes in the area and lacked the means to mount an attack.

Coulibaly said the government was aware "a group had issued a claim. We are being careful."

"One thing is sure, this was a terrorist action that targeted a military objective. So an appropriate military response is forthcoming," he added.

The Malian government said the attackers would be hunted down and punished, and that the military had control of Nampala.

Northern Mali has seen repeated violence since it fell under the control of Tuareg-led rebels who allied with jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012.

But attacks are now becoming more frequent in the country's centre, close to its borders with Burkina Faso and Niger, both from criminal and jihadist elements.

Although Islamists were largely ousted by an ongoing French-led military operation launched in January 2013, sporadic attacks from desert hideouts are common.

Source: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

armed group kills 17 soldiers at mali base armed group kills 17 soldiers at mali base

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

armed group kills 17 soldiers at mali base armed group kills 17 soldiers at mali base

 



GMT 21:16 2016 Monday ,27 June

Zaki Badr discusses cleaning problem in Giza

GMT 21:46 2017 Saturday ,14 January

Turkey arrests 60 businessmen for alleged Gulen ties

GMT 22:38 2017 Friday ,24 March

Abbas meets with Merkel in Berlin

GMT 09:02 2017 Monday ,27 March

Tunisian Premier Concludes Visit to Sudan

GMT 15:54 2017 Friday ,01 September

Attorney General Directs Prosecutors to inspect Prison

GMT 09:22 2017 Sunday ,31 December

HM King condoles with Afghanistan President

GMT 10:12 2016 Wednesday ,06 April

Strong dollar, mild weather shrink H&M profits

GMT 17:03 2016 Saturday ,24 December

7 police killed in attacks in Afghansitan

GMT 13:51 2017 Friday ,17 March

Israel denies Syria shot down a warplane

GMT 04:08 2017 Thursday ,05 January

Carbon tax can fund clean energy transition

GMT 19:27 2016 Wednesday ,14 September

Alstom to go ahead with plans to shut down Belfort plant
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday