Alwaght-Terrorists stormed an army camp in northern Mali early on Saturday, killing at least 14 soldiers in the worst attack on security forces in the West African country in more than a year, the army said.
Army spokesperson Colonel Diarran Kone confirmed the attack in the Timbuktu region and said the bodies of 17 terrorists remained at the scene. The base was again under the control of the Malian military, he said.
Al-Qaeda affiliated Takfiri terrorists seized control of Mali’s northern desert regions in 2012 before being driven back a year later.
But despite the presence of a UN peacekeeping mission and troops operating under a regional French anti-militant mission, violence is again on the rise and attacks are spreading further south towards the capital, Bamako. According to UN figures, more than 146 members of the mission have lost their lives since 2013. The UN mission has more than 11,000 troops
Large swathes of the country remain outside the control of Malian and foreign forces.
A landmine explosion blew up a civilian passenger vehicle near the central Mali village of Boni on Thursday, killing 26 people and wounding several others.
In a separate incident on the same day in the nearby town of Youwarou, the Malian military said its forces repelled an attack by suspected Takfiri terrorists.
Mali and its western neighbor Senegal plan to deploy 1,000 troops soon in an operation to pacify central Mali and contain terrorists who had previously been confined to its Saharan expanses in the north.
