Attack on Mali Military Post Kills 35 Soldiers

Thirty-five soldiers were killed Friday in a “terrorist attack” on a Mali military post in the northeast of the country, the army said. 
 
“The provisional death toll has risen to 35 deaths,” it said on Facebook late Friday, adding that the situation was “under control.” 
 
An investigation into the attack on the outpost in Indelimane in the Menaka region was continuing, it said. 
 
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. 
 
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Friday’s assault. 
 
The Malian government earlier 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-Qaida-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 land-mine attacks to central and southern Mali. 
 
The violence has also spilled over into Burkina Faso and Niger where militants have exploited existing intercommunal strife. 

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