14 soldiers from Mali are killed in simultaneous militant attacks

According to the Mali army, 11 soldiers were injured and 14 soldiers were killed on Tuesday in central Mali when their vehicles collided with explosives laid by Islamist militants.

The army claimed there were two explosives that went off simultaneously in a news release on Wednesday.

The attacks happened in the centre of Mali, which has seen a rise in violence from Islamist militants in recent months.

The airborne special forces of Mali fought what they referred to as “terrorists,” according to the army statement, killing 31 of them, including 14 who were burying their dead.

The attacks on Tuesday were not immediately linked to a perpetrator.

Since 2012, Mali has been waging war against an Islamist insurgency. Prior to spreading throughout the nation, it began in the north.

Up until the French army intervened in 2013 to push them out, the jihadists had taken over northern Mali.

After months of tense relations between Paris and Bamako, French President Emmanuel Macron declared last year that his country’s forces would leave Mali.

France said it was wrong for the military government of Mali to work with the Russian Wagner mercenaries, who are thought to have done bad things in the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, Syria, and Ukraine.

The military administration of Mali claims there are only authorised Russian military instructors present and denies cooperating with mercenaries.

Mali has been run by the military since a coup in August 2020 overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

Since then, attacks have been intensifying in southern Mali while continuing in the country’s centre.

On January 2, five people were killed when militants attacked a civil defence post 80 kilometres outside the city.

In July, terrorists attacked a checkpoint 70 kilometres from Bamako, killing six soldiers. A week later, they attacked Mali’s largest military barracks, which is only 15 kilometres from the capital.