BAMAKO: More than 60 people have been killed in a terrorist attack in Mali, the West African country’s interim military government said on Thursday, reported German news agency (dpa).
The victims included at least 49 civilians and 15 Malian troops, the government said on Facebook.
Militants attacked a river boat and an army camp in north-eastern Mali. Fifty militants are said to have also died, according to local media.
Mali, with a population of 20 million, has experienced three military coups since 2012 and is considered unstable.
Since a coup in May 2021, the country has been led by an interim military government. In June it demanded that 12,000 United Nation troops deployed to a peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, leave the country.
MINUSMA is to withdraw by the end of the year and it plans to hand over its bases to the Malian security forces.
The UN mission was established following a conflict in 2012 with extremists and Tuareg rebels in the north of the country.
The militants have since expanded into Burkina Faso and Niger. All three countries are now under military rule and have turned their backs on France, the former colonial power, that has maintained a strong presence in the region. – BERNAMA-dpa
