Attackers on trucks and motorbikes raid Mali base, kill 33 troops

 The army said in a statement on Wednesday that 20 attackers were killed. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The army said in a statement on Wednesday that 20 attackers were killed. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

While offering its condolences to the soldiers’ families, the army underlined “the necessity of strengthening the fight against terrorism”.

Mali has been plagued by a brutal conflict that began as a separatist movement in the north but devolved into a multitude of armed groups jockeying for control in the country’s central and northern regions.

The violence has spread into Burkina Faso and Niger, with fighters linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda exploiting the poverty of marginalised communities and inflaming tensions between ethnic groups.

The “tri-border” region – the three-country point joining Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – has seen the most intense fighting in a worsening conflict that has sparked a major humanitarian crisis.

Attacks grew fivefold between 2016 and 2020, with 4,000 people killed in the three countries last year, up from about 770 in 2016, according to the United Nations.

Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron ruled out an immediate drawdown in France’s 5,100-strong Barkhane forces battling armed groups in the Sahel, describing a rushed exit as a mistake.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA

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