A jihadist attack against a Malian army camp in the center of the country killed 27 soldiers on Friday and several dozen “terrorists” were “neutralized”, the army announced.
This is the deadliest attack reported against Malian forces in months.
The attack, which took place Friday morning around 5:30 GMT, at the Mondoro camp in central Mali also left 33 injured, including 21 seriously, and seven “missing” among the soldiers.
According to the army, 47 assailants were “neutralized” in the morning and 23 others were following a “raking of terrorist sanctuaries”.
“The offensive dynamic of search and destruction of terrorist sanctuaries will continue unabated”, assured the Malian Armed Forces in a press release.
Between 40 and 50 soldiers killed, according to the French
Several sources in Mali had indicated Friday afternoon that an attack had left many dead in Mondoro.
A French military source on condition of anonymity had indicated that the toll of this attack carried out by several hundred jihadists had left between 40 and 50 dead.
The source claimed that 21 vehicles had been seized by the jihadists, including several armored vehicles.
The Malians did not ask for the support of Barkhane
In addition, according to this same source, “the FAMa (Malian Armed Forces) did not request the support of (the French anti-jihadist force) Barkhane. The Mondoro camp is in an area where Barkhane was asked not to operate, probably because of the presence of mercenaries from (the Russian private company) Wagner”.
The Mondoro camp, near the border with Burkina Faso, has been the target of attacks by jihadists on several occasions in the past seeking to impose their hold on the representations of the central state or the foreign presence.
Two-thirds of Mali escapes state control
An operation against the camp and that of nearby Boulkessi left around fifty soldiers dead in September 2019.
Since 2019, the village of Mondoro has been isolated and telecommunications are very uncertain.
The camp is in one of the main centers of violence which, starting in northern Mali with separatist and jihadist insurgencies in 2012, has spread to the center and to neighboring Burkina and Niger.
Two thirds of the Malian territory escapes the control of the State. The jihadist spread, under affiliation with Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State organization, is beginning to affect further south, Côte d’Ivoire or Benin for example, threatening to reach the Gulf of Guinea.