SEGOU, Mali
Islamist militants killed 15 soldiers and three civilians during two separate attacks in southwest Mali on Wednesday, the army said in a statement.
Six soldiers died
and 25 were wounded when militants assaulted a military camp in Sonkolo, a
rural commune in the south-central Segou region, more than 300 kilometres (186
miles) north of the capital Bamako.
Nine soldiers and three
civilians were killed during an early morning attack on a different camp in the
southwestern town of Kalumba, the army said.
Another military base in the
central town of Mopti also was attacked during the night, but the assailants
were pushed back without casualties.
All the attacks were
eventually repelled and soldiers killed 48 of the militants in Sonkolo, the
statement added.
Militants linked to al Qaeda
and Islamic State have repeatedly raided bases across Mali during a decade-long
insurgency concentrated in the country's north and centre.
The groups have gained ground
despite the presence of foreign troops and United Nations peacekeepers.
Mali's main military base just
outside Bamako was hit with a complex assault involving car bombs on Friday,
the closest the insurgents have come to the capital in years. - Africa
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