Mali: Armed Forces convoy ambushed in Mopti; 11 soldiers killed, 9 others critical

The Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) on Thursday informed on their official website that eleven Malian troops were killed and several others injured in an ambush on a convoy of Operation "Maliko Theater Center" in Mali's central province, Mopti. 

News agency ANI reported that a FAMa convoy was ambushed on August 19. A vehicle bomb first exploded at 12:45 pm, followed by heavy gunfire on the convoy. The provisional toll shows 11 killed and 10 injured, nine of whom remain critical. According to the Malian army, plans have been arranged for the wounded to be evacuated. 

In a separate incident, three Malian troops were killed on 15 August when an artisanal mine exploded on the route to Menaka airport in the nation's northeast. 

Earlier attacks in Mali

Previously, at the beginning of this month, Islamist terrorists stormed three towns near the Niger boundary in central Mali on 9 August, killing nearly 51 people, according to a local administrator. As per a message from the Asongo district administrator to the governor of the Gao region, the towns of Ouatagouna, Karou, and Deouteguef were concurrently assaulted at 6 pm on 8 August. 

The perpetrators approached on a motorcycle, surprising the residents and started the massacre, according to the official. Villagers of Ouattagouna and Karou had criticized two rebel commanders who were detained by the Malian military a week before the attack. Clashes occurred in the dangerous border region between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, where ISIS and al-Qaeda members are active. However, no group has taken responsibility for the attack in the region where Malian soldiers, French and European forces, and UN peacekeepers are fighting militants connected to the Islamist terror organisations. 

Colonel Souleymane Dembele, Mali's army spokesperson, acknowledged the strikes but offered no additional details. 

Malian forces were searching the region, according to the administrator. Dembele also asked military to "assist with funerals, comfort the populace, and express condolences to the dead families." 

Mali's Takuba taskforce

The Norwegian government has declared that it will send soldiers to Mali's Takuba taskforce, a specialised European organisation tasked with assisting the country's army in combating terrorists. The task force includes troops from France, Belgium, Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, and Denmark. 

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