Bamako, Sept. 8, (dpa/GNA) – More than 60 people have been killed in a terror attack in Mali, the West Africa country’s interim military government said on Thursday.
The victims included at least 49 civilians and 15 Malian troops, the government said on Facebook.
Islamist 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 around 20 million, has experienced three military coups since 2012 and is considered extremely unstable.
Since a coup in May 2021, the country has been led by an interim military government.
Since seizing power in 2021, the Malian military government has ruled the country. In June it demanded that all 12,000 United Nation’s troops deployed to peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, should leave the country.
MINUSMA is to withdraw by the end of the year and plans to hand over its bases to the Malian security forces.
The UN mission was established following conflict in 2012 with Islamist extremists and Tuareg rebels in the north of the country.
The Islamists 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.
GNA