A group of 'unidentified armed individuals' had attacked troops in the Archam district, which is close the borders with restive Burkina Faso and Niger.
Following a skirmish with rebels in the northeast of the West African nation, eight Malian troops were killed, 14 others were injured, and four soldiers went missing, according to the country's defense ministry.
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| [Luc Gnago/Reuters] |
Late on Friday, the government announced that columns of fighters on motorbikes had trapped down the unit, but that the army, backed by the air force, had killed 57 of them in the tri-border region near Burkina Faso.
According to the statement, the troops were targeted by "unidentified armed persons" in the Archam area, which is close to the borders with restive Burkina Faso and Niger.
A total of about 40 people were murdered this week in this area, which is home to competing armed organizations such as ISIL (ISIS), according to reports from the AFP news agency.
In the opinion of local sources, the citizens were regarded to be loyal to competing armed organizations.
Mali is at the epicenter of a conflict that has engulfed the whole Sahel region, claiming the lives of thousands of military and civilians and displacing more than two million people.
Rebel groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) hold large swathes of land in the porous border areas of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
According to reports, the latest attack took place just days after Mali's ruling military government demanded that France withdraw its troops from its territory "without delay," calling into question Paris's plan for a four- to six-month withdrawal and highlighting the deterioration in relations between Paris and its former colony.
Attempts to restore peace in Mali have been difficult since ethnic Tuareg rebels and loosely affiliated armed groups seized control of the country's northern two-thirds in 2012.
In 2013, forces from the former colonial power France intervened and assisted in the defeat of the armed groups, but the fighters regrouped in the desert and resumed their frequent attacks on the army and civilians. It is believed that they have exported their techniques to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, where violence has increased dramatically in recent years, resulting in an escalation of the humanitarian catastrophe.
France has around 4,300 troops in the Sahel area, with 2,400 of them stationed in Mali. Its so-called Barkhane force is also active in Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania, among other African countries.
According to a statement issued on Thursday by France and its African and European partners, "several impediments" by Mali's current military administration have resulted in the nation's operating environment no longer being conducive to doing business in the country.
According to reports, the Malian authorities approved the deployment of people from Russia's Wagner Group, which is being investigated for human rights violations in the Central African Republic, Libya, and Syria. The decision was denounced by France and 15 other European nations in December.
The decision to withdraw applies to both Barkhane and the Takuba European force, which France and its partners had been attempting to put together with the help of the United States.
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
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