Seven Malian Soldiers Killed In Attack On Patrol

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Seven Malian soldiers were killed in two separate attacks on Saturday, October 30 as they were patrolling the country's central-west region, the Malian military said.

The attack was the latest bloodshed to emerge and shows that violence is turning towards the south, which was previously a peaceful area.

At around 11:20 GMT, a military convoy was attacked near the town of Mourdiah, about 200 kilometers north of the capital Bamako, resulting in two deaths and three injuries, the military said in a statement on Facebook.

Two hours later, a military truck was hit by a roadside bomb near Segou, about 200 kilometers northeast of Bamako, and the five people aboard the truck died, the military said.

"After a sweep was carried out in the area where the incident took place, two suspects were taken into custody and immediately handed over to the police," the military said.

The military has not made any allegations about which group may have carried out the two attacks.

Armed attacks by hardline groups are common in many parts of Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, despite the large number of international troops stationed there.

So far, thousands of civilians have been killed and millions more forced to flee as a result of these attacks.