This is the deadliest attack reported against Malian forces in months.
The attack, which took place Friday morning around 6:30 a.m. (French time), at the Mondoro camp in central Mali also left 33 injured, including 21 seriously, and seven “missing” among the soldiers, according to the same source.
According to the army, 47 assailants were “neutralized” in the morning and 23 others were after a “raking of terrorist sanctuaries”.
“The offensive dynamic of search and destruction of terrorist sanctuaries will continue unabated”, assured the Malian Armed Forces in a press release. Several sources in Mali had indicated to AFP on Friday afternoon that an attack had left many dead in Mondoro.
A French military source on condition of anonymity told AFP that the toll of this attack carried out by several hundred jihadists had left between 40 and 50 dead.
The source claimed that 21 vehicles had been seized by the jihadists, including several armored vehicles.
The Mondoro camp is in an area where Barkhane was asked not to operate, probably because of the presence of mercenaries from (the private Russian company) Wagner”.
Close to the border with Burkina Faso, this camp has on several occasions in the past been the target of attacks by jihadists seeking to impose their hold on the representations of the central State or the foreign presence.
An operation against the camp and that of nearby Boulkessi left around fifty soldiers dead in September 2019.
