16 Soldiers Killed in Central Mali Attack

On Wednesday, at least nine soldiers have been killed and 11 more wounded in an attack in central Mali, the army said.

Today's attack occurred near the village of Bodio in the Mopti region, the epicentre of violence in Mali by fighters linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), according to Moulaye Guindo, the mayor of the nearby town of Bankass.

“The death toll is heavy: 16 soldiers killed, 30 jihadists killed and 17 others wounded,” he told the Reuters news agency.

Another local official, who asked not to be named, said more than 10 soldiers had been killed.

In a statement, Mali’s army said that troops had repelled a “complex IED attack,” referring to an improvised explosive device.

Mali has been struggling to contain fighting that first erupted in the north in 2012 and has since killed thousands of military personnel and civilians.

Malian soldiers, as well as French forces that support them, and United Nations peacekeepers are frequently targeted in central and northern Mali by the armed groups.

Despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, the conflict has engulfed central Mali and spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Central Mali has become one of the most violent hotspots of the Sahel-wide conflict, where ethnic killings and attacks on government forces are frequent.