Suspected Daesh attack kills dozens of Mali soldiers

Sophisticated weekend attack involving drones, explosives, car bombs and artillery leaves 42 soldiers dead and 22 others wounded, say officials of the troubled African country.

Heavy fighting took place in the troubled "three-border" region where the frontiers of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso converge. (Reuters)

Forty-two Malian soldiers have been killed and 22 others wounded in an attack near the town of Tessit, a sophisticated attack blamed on Daesh affiliate in the landlocked West African country.  

"The Malian army units of Tessit... reacted vigorously to a complex and coordinated attack by armed terrorist groups, presumably from Islamic State [Daesh] in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), characterised by the use of drones, explosives, car bombs, and artillery," the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

 The attack took place on Sunday and was one of the deadliest attacks in recent years for the Malian army which has been battling a decade-long insurgency across the Sahel region.

 Soldiers killed 37 militants during several hours of heavy fighting in the troubled "three-border" region where the borders of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso converge.

 The army had previously said that 17 soldiers had been killed in the attack and that nine had gone missing.

 Deadly tri-junction 

Thousands have fled Tessit to the nearest large town of Gao, which is located some 150 kilometres to the north.

 The last time Mali's armed forces sustained heavy losses was in a string of attacks in the same region between late 2019 and early 2020.

During those attacks, hundreds of soldiers were killed in assaults on nearly a dozen bases. These attacks are typically carried out by militants on motorbikes.

The attacks also prompted the Malian, Nigerien and Burkinabe forces to fall back from forward bases and hunker down in better-defended locations.

Mobile phone connections to the area have been frequently cut over the last few years and access to the area is difficult during the mid-year rainy season.

 Mali is ruled by a military junta that overthrew the democratic government in 2020, in part over frustration at its failure to rein in the violence, but attacks have remained common.

Source: AFP

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Terrorist attacks in Mali leave 66 dead

DOUALA, Cameroon 

At least 66 people were killed in terrorist attacks Wednesday in several towns in Mali, according to security sources.

"The Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) repelled terrorist attacks targeting positions in Savare, Sokolo and Kalumba early this Wednesday, July 27. The response, carried out with energy and professionalism, has enabled the attackers to be routed and pursued," Colonel Souleymane Dembele, the army’s director of information and public relations, said in a statement.

A report on the fighting showed 54 dead, including six soldiers, and 25 soldiers wounded, including five seriously, in Sokolo in the region of Segou in south-central Mali, where a coordinated response was orchestrated against the attackers, who were routed.

The same source also reported 12 dead "on the friendly side," including three civilians from a road construction company, following a "vigorously repelled" terrorist attack in Kalumba in the Nara region near the Mauritanian border.

The sweep and assessment of the attack is still ongoing, according to the military authorities.

"The aerial pursuit made it possible to attack terrorist logistical bases under cover of vegetation in the vicinity, thus reducing the enemy’s potential," Dembele added.

On the central Mopti side, infiltration attempts targeted one of the checkpoints of a military camp as well as air force installations without success as suspicious movements were contained by FAMa.

The attacks are part of a series that have targeted Malian army posts recently.

On July 21, three soldiers and three terrorists were killed in simultaneous complex attacks in several locations.

The following day, one soldier and seven terrorists were killed in a car bomb attack on the facility of the Directorate of Material, Hydrocarbons and Transport of the Armed Forces (DMHTA) in Kati near the capital Bamako.

The attacks confirm the signals and clues previously detected and identified by the competent services and materialize the agony of the armed terrorist groups in Mali, according to military staff.

"These armed groups are actually demonstrating their overall weakening by carrying out desperate actions of kamikaze attacks, actions on civilians, and the planting of improvised explosive devices," Dembele said.

The military communication from the West African country, one of the most plagued by terrorist attacks in the Sahel for years, does not name the attacking terrorist group.

One of the intelligence reports proves that one of the attackers is based in a neighboring country, according to the military body, which intends to "determine the connections and possible complicities" after investigations. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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Terror attacks kill several soldiers, civilians in Mali

Fast News

The Malian army claimed to have killed 48 militants amid fighting while 15 soldiers and three civilians lost their lives in the attacks.

The Malian army said it had thwarted a "terrorist" attack at a town on the outskirts of the capital where a key base used by the ruling military is located. (AFP)

At least 15 soldiers and three civilians were killed in coordinated "terrorist" attacks in Mali, the chronically unstable country's army said, the latest deadly violence to rock the Sahel state.

In Kalumba, near the Mauritanian border, "the death toll on the friendly side is 12, including three civilians from a road construction company", the army said Wednesday in a statement.

The army death toll in Sokolo, in central Mali, was six with 25 others wounded, five of them seriously.

The army claims to have killed 48 attackers and "neutralised three terrorist pick-up trucks 15 kilometres (10 miles) from Sokolo with (an) estimated fifteen fighters and their equipment" destroyed, the statement said.

A third attack, in centrally-located Mopti ended without casualties overnight.

READ MORE: Attack on Mali military base repelled, situation under control: Army

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1rgpd8mrSg[/embed]

Intensified anti-terror operations

Over the weekend, Mali's army said it had thwarted a new attack on a military camp in the centre of the country, two days after a deadly suicide attack in a strategic garrison town near the capital.

It was the first time since 2012 that such coordinated attacks have taken place so close to the capital.

The Malian army has intensified its anti-terror operations in recent months, relying on what it describes as Russian instructors.

READ MORE: Mali to suspend UN peacekeeping mission rotations

Source: AFP

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