Al-Azhar condemns terrorist attack on an army camp in central Mali
Militants killed 21 Malian soldiers in a raid on an
army camp in central Mali, military sources said, after a dawn attack that the
armed forces believe was led by a deserter.
The provisional toll is 21 bodies discovered,” said
a military source, in figures also confirmed by a local legislator.
The base is in the village of Dioura, the mayor of
the nearest town Kareri, Youssouf Coulibaly, told Reuters by telephone from
inside it. Central Mali has in the past few years been overrun by jihadists
with links to al Qaeda.
The base is in the village of Dioura, the mayor of
the nearest town Kareri, Youssouf Coulibaly, told Reuters by telephone from
inside it. Central Mali has in the past few years been overrun by jihadists
with links to al Qaeda.
Groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State used
central and northern Mali as a launch pad for growing numbers of attacks across
the Sahel region, especially on neighbours Niger and Burkina Faso, despite the
presence of 4,500 French troops.
Central Mali is the locus of the Macina Liberation
Front, led by Salafist preacher and militant leader Amadou Koufa. French Armed
Forces Minister Florence Parly claimed in November that Koufa had been killed
in a raid by French forces.
But at the end of last month Koufa appeared in a new
propaganda video mocking French and Malian forces.
