Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/DAKAR: Fourteen Malian soldiers were killed this week in a clash with militants, the army said on Thursday, giving a new toll in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda’s linked group.
Fighting erupted when roadside bombs between the towns of Segou and Mopti in central Mali hit an army unit. The army stated on Thursday that 31 “terrorists” were killed while 14 soldiers were also killed and 11 were injured. Under anonymity, military and police officials said on Wednesday that at least 12 soldiers had been killed.
According to a statement verified by American NGO SITE, the Mopti region was the target of a two-part attack, which focuses on keeping an eye on radical organizations. The group claimed that after killing and injuring “an unspecified number of Malian soldiers and Wagner mercenaries with a landmine,” it had killed “five Wagner mercenaries and seven from the Malian army… injured dozens of others.”
Five of the group’s fighters died, the group admitted in its statement. Mali has been experiencing a security crisis for about 11 years, which was brought on by a regional revolt in the north that grew into a full-fledged militant insurgency.
Several nations have accused the pro-Kremlin Wagner mercenary outfit of being used by the Mali government, which Bamako strongly rejects. A coup was launched in August 2020 due to military discontent about the growing death toll and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Clashes, insurgency expanded to neighbouring nations
Following the insurgency’s expansion to the neighboring nations of Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015, there have been periodic attacks on nations around the Gulf of Guinea’s southern coast.
