AT LEAST 27 MALIAN SOLDIERS KILLED, 33 INJURED IN ATTACK ON SECURITY POST

Sat 05 March 2022:

At least 27 Malian soldiers were killed, 33 wounded and seven are missing following an attack by insurgents on a security post in the Mopti region in central Mali, the government said late Friday.

Insurgents with car bombs attacked the Mondoro security post in the circle of Douentza at around 5.30 a.m., said Territorial Administration and Decentralization Minister Col. Abdoulaye Maiga.

A total of 21 soldiers were seriously wounded and 47 terrorists were neutralized, it said.

The government reassured citizens that efforts are underway to arrest and bring to justice the perpetrators.

“The Malian armed forces remain faithful to their commitments to restore peace and tranquility throughout the national territory. The ultimate sacrifice made by the sons of the nation will not remain in vain,” it said.

The Mondoro base is near Mali’s border with Burkina Faso and has previously been targeted by rebels fighting the Malian state and foreign forces.

About 50 soldiers died after an attack on Mondoro and the nearby Boulkessi camp in September 2019.

Mali has been facing an armed rebellion since al-Qaeda-linked fighters seized its desert north in 2012, forcing former colonial power France to intervene to drive them back the following year.

The rebel fighters have since regrouped and seized vast swaths of the Malian countryside, while also expanding into Niger, Burkina Faso and other neighbouring countries.

Last month, European leaders announced a withdrawal of forces deployed in Mali as part of a counterterrorism mission, citing obstructions by Mali transitional authorities.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES | FILE PHOTO

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