15 Mali troopers killed

MEMBERS of the FAMA (Mali Armed Forces) on patrol in this AFP file photo.

Fifteen soldiers were killed Friday in a “terrorist attack” on a Mali military post in the northeast of the country, the army said.

The attack on the outpost in Indelimane in the Menaka region left 15 troops dead according to a provisional death toll, the army said on Twitter.

The attack came a month after two jihadist assaults killed 40 soldiers near the border with Burkina Faso, one of the deadliest strikes against Mali’s military in recent Islamist militant violence.

Some Malian soldiers were also declared missing during the attack, a military source told AFP.

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

The Malian government condemned the “terrorist attack,” saying it had left numerous dead or wounded but without giving a precise toll.

It said reinforcements had been rushed to the area to boost security and track down the attackers.

Northern Mali came under the control of Al-Qaeda linked jihadists after Mali’s army failed to quash a rebellion there in 2012. A French-led military campaign was launched against the jihadists, pushing them back a year later.

But the jihadists have regrouped and widened their hit-and-run raids and landmine attacks to central and southern Mali.

The violence has also spilled over into Burkina Faso and Niger where militants have exploited existing inter-communal strife.