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It was one of the deadliest attacks in recent years by the Malian army, which has been engaged in a decade-long insurgency with militant groups spread across West Africa’s Sahel region.
Reuters | , Posted by Lingamgunta Nirmitha Rao
Forty-two Malian soldiers were killed and 22 wounded in an attack on Sunday near the town of Tessit, which was blamed on an Islamic State affiliate, the Malian government said on Wednesday.
It was one of the deadliest attacks in recent years by the Malian army, which has been engaged in a decade-long insurgency against militant groups spread across West Africa’s Sahel region.
“Tesit’s Malian army…responded strongly to a complex and coordinated attack, possibly from an armed terrorist group from the Islamic State of the Greater Sahara (ISGS), characterized by the use of drones, explosives, car bombs and artillery,” The government said in a statement.
It added that soldiers killed 37 fighters during hours of intense fighting.
The military had previously said 17 soldiers were killed in the attack and nine were missing.
Mali is ruled by a military junta that toppled a democratic government in 2020, in part out of frustration with its failure to control violence, but attacks remain common.
An al-Qaeda affiliate claimed to have launched an attack on the country’s main military base in late July.
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