BAMAKO, Oct 7 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on
Sunday rejected as speculation talk of a military coup after recent jihadist
attacks left dozens of soldiers dead near the border with Burkina Faso.
Keita said lessons would be learned after 38 soldiers were killed in two
attacks last week, a death toll that observers say is probably an
underestimate.
“No military coup will prevail in Mali, let it be said,” the president said
in remarks recorded Saturday and released on Sunday. “And I don’t think this
is on the agenda at all and cannot worry us,” he added.
Also on Sunday, the UN mission MINUSMA said one peacekeeper was killed and
five others were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in the northeast of
the former French colony.
The peacekeepers were carrying out a security patrol near the town of
Aguelhok when the device detonated, spokesman Olivier Salgado said on
Twitter.
Keita said after the attacks last Monday and Tuesday in the central towns
of Boulkessy and Mondoro that the semi-desert country was “at war”.
“What happened at Boulkessy could unfortunately happen again,” Keita said
of the attacks, which evoked memories of a 2012 army coup in Mali.
The assailants used heavily armed vehicles in the raids on the two military
camps, during which the government said troops killed 15 jihadists.
The jihadists made off with a large quantity of arms, ammunition and
equipment — local media said about 20 vehicles were captured, including some
mounted with machine guns.
Sources said Malian special forces and foreign allies, including French
warplanes and helicopters, helped to quash the attacks.