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 on 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.
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.