The Malian army announced on Sunday that they have succeded in thwarting a fresh attack which had been made on a military camp in the centre of the country, two days after a deadly suicide attack in a strategic garrison town near the capital of the country.
Armed forces “once again foiled” an attempted attack on a camp in Sevare early on Sunday, the army said on social media.
“The provisional toll stands at one terrorist neutralised,” it added.
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A high-ranking official from the Sevare camp, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP: “The situation is under control.”
“Our camp of the national guard has been attacked on Sunday at Sevare by terrorists… During the response, we neutralised a terrorist,” the official said.
In another report, Mali had also revealed that it had repelled a suicide raid by Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists of the Katiba Macina group with two vehicle-borne bombs that killed at least one soldier in Kati, the heart of the Malian military establishment. The Malian army has intensified its anti-jihadist operations in recent months, relying on what it describes as Russian instructors.
Despite a deteriorating security situation, the junta turned its back on France and its international partners, instead leaning on Russia to stem the threat posed by jihadists to Mali, as well as Burkina Faso and Niger.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned an attack in Kidal, northern Mali, against a convoy of UN peacekeepers that killed a Guinean soldier.
The Guinean peacekeeper was killed by an improvised explosive device, which detonated during a UN Stabilisation Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) mine detection operation.
In a statement by UN Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Haq, the secretary-general conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the family of the victim and his brothers in arms, as well as to the people and authorities of Guinea.
Guterres recalled that going by international laws, attacks targeting UN peacekeepers may constitute war crimes.
He called on the Malian authorities to ‘spare no effort’ in identifying the perpetrators so that they can swiftly be brought to justice swiftly
