This deadly attack comes less than three weeks after 27 Malian soldiers were killed on March 4 in the attack on their camp in Mondoro (center), according to the Malian army.
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The toll of two attacks, which occurred Monday in eastern and central Mali, has been revised upwards. Sixteen Malian soldiers were killed in these attacks attributed to jihadists, one of which was claimed by the Islamic State organization, the Malian army said on the night of Tuesday March 22 to Wednesday March 23. A previous report reported four Malian soldiers killed in total in Tessit (east) and Boni (center).
The army said late Tuesday evening in its press release that it had “neutralized” 37 “terrorists”.
While two thirds of Malian territory is beyond state control, the jihadist spread is beginning to affect further south, Côte d’Ivoire or Benin for example, threatening to reach the Gulf of Guinea. In Burkina, 24 soldiers were killed on Sunday by the explosion of an improvised explosive device on the one hand, and an attack on the other in the east of the country.
The junta in power in Mali since the military coup of August 2020, however, claims to have redressed the situation against the jihadists, described as being “in disarray” in the statement released overnight.
However, this is the second time in a few weeks that the human toll has been heavy for the Malian army. Twenty-seven soldiers were killed on March 4 in the attack on their camp in Mondoro (center), according to the Malian army. It was the deadliest operation reported against Malian forces in several months. The army had claimed the elimination of 70 enemies.
In a press release published by its agency Amaq and authenticated by the American specialized organization SITE, the terrorist organization Islamic State has also used a new name of “Sahel province” of IS, in which he places Mali. It had previously included Mali, Burkina Faso and eastern Niger in its “province of West Africa”, comments SITE.