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Attack on Mali Military Post Kills 35 Soldiers

Agence France-Presse

   BAMAKO, MALI - Thirty-five soldiers were killed Friday in a "terrorist
   attack" on a Mali military post in the northeast of the country, the
   army said.
   "The provisional death toll has risen to 35 deaths," it said on
   Facebook late Friday, adding that the situation was "under control."
   An investigation into the attack on the outpost inIndelimanein
   theMenakaregion was continuing, it said.
   The attack came a month after two jihadist assaults killed 40 soldiers
   near the border with Burkina Faso, one of the deadliest strikes against
   Mali's military in recent Islamist militant violence.
   No group immediately claimed responsibility for Friday's assault.
   The Malian government earlier condemned the "terrorist attack," saying
   it had left numerous dead or wounded but without giving a precise toll.
   It said reinforcements had been rushed to the area to boost security
   and track down the attackers.
   Northern Mali came under the control of al-Qaida-linked jihadists after
   Mali's army failed to quash a rebellion there in 2012. A French-led
   military campaign was launched against the jihadists, pushing them back
   a year later.
   But the jihadists have regrouped and widened their hit-and-run raids
   and land-mine attacks to central and southern Mali.
   The violence has also spilled over into Burkina Faso and Niger where
   militants have exploited existing intercommunal strife.

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