Mali: Death toll from terrorist attack on Army convoy rises to 16, 9 troops injured

The Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) announced on its website on Thursday that the death toll after Wednesday's terrorist assault in central Mali had increased to 16, with nine others injured. 

According to the Malian Army, a FAMa convoy on the Bandiagara-Koro route was the target of a complicated improvised explosive device (IED) terrorist strike at approximately 11:25 a.m. on Wednesday, October 6. 

Earlier, on Wednesday, FAMa's public relations department had given a provisional estimate of nine troops dead, 11 injured, 15 terrorists slain, and 20 motorbikes confiscated. Although no group had claimed responsibility for the incident, the current attack is identical to other assaults in central Mali by extremist groups affiliated with Al-Qaida, AP reported.  

Separately on Saturday, October 2, after the detonation of an artisanal mine triggered by a mission vehicle in northeastern Mali, one UN peacekeeper died, and four others were severely injured. 

Terrorist attack on Army

A month earlier on September 12, an armed militant group assaulted a military patrol in central Mali, killing nearly five troops and three terrorists, Xinhua news reported, quoting a statement by the Malian Armed Forces.   

The terrorist organisation had set up the attack on Sunday (September 12) morning at 11:45 am (local time), in which the Operation Maliko patrol unit of the Army bravely responded to the attack, the statement said. The attackers also set fire to five army vehicles. 

On August 19, up to 15 Malian troops were slain in an ambush on National Road No. 6 in central Mali. The Indian External Affairs Ministry responded by issuing a statement denouncing the incident. The Ministry also expressed its condolences to the families of the dead troops as well as the Mali government. 

Islamic terrorism in Mali

Since 2012, Mali has been fighting to prevent an Islamic terrorist insurgency. Extremist militants had seized control of northern cities of Mali but were driven out in the year 2013 by a French-led military operation. On the other hand, extremist militants immediately reassembled in the desert and resumed attacking the Malian army and its supporters, including French troops and United Nations peacekeepers on a regular basis. Though several French army personnel, as well as the United Nations peace-keepers, are present, the extremist militants have continued to spread their influence throughout central Mali, inflaming tensions amongst ethnic groups in the region.  

(Image: AP/Representative)