A jihadist attack against a Malian army camp in the center of the country left 27 soldiers dead on Friday and several dozen
"terrorists"
were
"neutralized"
, the army said in a statement.
This is the deadliest attack reported against Malian forces in months.
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The attack, which took place Friday morning around 05:30 GMT, at the Mondoro camp in central Mali also left 33 injured, including 21 seriously, and seven
"missing"
among the soldiers, according to the same source.
According to the army, 47 assailants were
"neutralized"
in the morning and 23 others were after 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.
Several sources in Mali had indicated to AFP on Friday afternoon that an attack had left many dead in Mondoro.
A French military source on condition of anonymity told AFP 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.
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 private Russian 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.
An operation against the camp and that of nearby Boulkessi had killed around fifty soldiers in September 2019.
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