Ten civilians and three soldiers were killed and 88 militants “neutralized” in multiple incidents across Mali on Saturday, the government said, in a wave of bloodshed it described as a resurgence of “terrorist incidents.”
Early on Saturday morning, suspected militants attacked the Mopti Airport area in Sevare, detonating car bombs, which killed 10 civilians and injured 61 others, the government said in a statement.
The blasts destroyed some houses in the airport’s surrounding area, which is home to a Malian military camp.
Photo: AFP
“Thanks to the legendary determination of our valiant armed forces, operating exclusively with their own resources, the attackers were routed and 28 terrorists were neutralized,” it said.
A local elected official earlier said that Senegalese soldiers from the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), were involved in the fighting.
MINUSMA’s camp covers 4 hectares next to the airport and the Malian army camp.
“MINUSMA strongly condemns the 22 April attacks on the Malian Armed Forces camp in Sevare and the nearby car bombings that killed and injured civilians... Shots were also fired toward the MINUSMA camp,” the mission said in a statement on Saturday.
“MINUSMA declares its readiness to provide all necessary support to the Malian authorities to conduct the required investigations,” it added.
Two local elected officials and a diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, referred to the base as a “Russian” camp.
Mali’s junta last year began working with what it calls Russian military “instructors.” Opponents say these are mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group.
“It is the Russian camp and their planes that have been targeted — the camp is near the airport,” an elected official said.
In separate incidents on Saturday, the Malian army “destroyed a terrorist sanctuary in Mourdiah and neutralized some 60 terrorists in Boni,” the government said.
Boni is also in Mopti, while Mourdiah is in the Koulikoro region near the border with Mauritania.
“A supply mission of the Malian Armed Forces was ambushed just 10km from Mourdiah on the road to Nara,” the Nara governorate said in a statement earlier on Saturday.
The area around Nara was also the site of an ambush on an official delegation on Tuesday.
The chief of staff of Mali’s transitional president and at least two others died in that attack, which was claimed by the al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin.
Also on Saturday, an air force helicopter crashed in a residential neighborhood of the capital, Bamako, killing three military crew members and injuring six civilians, the government statement said.
It said the crash occurred “following a typical aerial surveillance operation of Bamako.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a military source earlier on Saturday said that the helicopter had been returning “from the Mauritanian border where it had intervened against jihadists.”
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
RSS