(UTV|COLOMBO) – At least 25 Malian soldiers were killed and 60 are missing after militants attacked two army camps in central Mali on Monday, The Mali government said.
Security forces sent to the Boulkessi and Mondoro near the border with Burkina Faso were able to reoccupy one of the camps on Tuesday after taking fire from insurgents, according to a government statement.
The clash left “25 dead, 4 wounded … about 60 people missing and heavy equipment losses,” according to a preliminary report, the government said.
At least 15 militants were killed in the exchange, the government said.
Separatists and al Qaeda-linked insurgents often target military outposts in the West African nation. A jihadist insurgency spread into the north and center of Mali in 2012, and foreign troops and the government have been unable to fully regain control over some regions of the landlocked West African country.
Nearly 40 people were killed in June when gunmen stormed two villages in the country’s volatile Mopti region, and 95 people died after armed men opened fire and burned several homes in Dogon village in the same month. More than 20 soldiers were killed in a raid on an army camp in Dioura in central Mali in March. (CNN)
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