BAMAKO: Three soldiers were killed in central Mali on Thursday by a mine blast as they hunted for suspected militants, the army announced in a statement.
“In their pursuit of the terrorists, the FAMA (Malian armed forces) were victims of a mine explosion,” the army said. “The incident took place ... in the Bulkessy (Mopti) sector on the border with Burkina Faso.”
“The casualty toll is three dead and three wounded,” added the statement, without giving any further details.
On Dec. 21, the army in the large northwest African nation, mostly desert, announced the killing of five armed extremists and the death of a soldier when troops fought off an attack near Niono in the center.
In March and April 2012, militant groups linked to Al-Qaeda seized control of the arid north of Mali, including celebrated ancient cities such as Gao and Timbuktu, centers of trans-Saharan trade and learning.
The extremists were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013, but large tracts of the country are still not controlled by Malian or French forces, nor a UN peacekeeping mission.
These forces regularly come under attack despite the signature in mid-2015 of a peace pact intended to isolate armed extremists.
Since then, the attacks have spread southward in Mali and violence has also struck in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Faced with deteriorating regional security, the G-5 Sahel regional organization, which includes the three nations together with Chad and Mauritania, revived plans for a joint anti-militant force, initually launched in November 2015 with French support.
Mali mine blast leaves troops dead, injured
Mali mine blast leaves troops dead, injured
