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Mali army says dozen alleged jihadists killed in attack
BAMAKO, Dec 27, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The Malian army said Saturday it killed
around a dozen alleged jihadists when a military convoy was attacked near the
border with Burkina Faso.
The attack occurred on Thursday afternoon between Dinangourou and Mondoro,
the army said on Twitter.
“On the enemy’s side, around a dozen terrorists were killed,” but the army
suffered no losses, it said.
Mali has been struggling to contain a jihadist insurgency that first
emerged in the north of the country in 2012, and has since spread to the
centre of the country and neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in the fighting to
date, and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their
homes.
From 2015, violence on civilians moved to the volatile centre of the
country, starting with the Fulani community, which had become associated with
the jihadists after a firebrand Fulani preacher named Amadou Koufa set up an
armed group.
Last week, an exhaustive report into strife-torn Mali by UN investigators
said they had garnered evidence of war crimes committed by the security
forces and others, and of crimes against humanity by jihadists and other
armed groups.
The 338-page investigation by the International Commission of Inquiry for
Mali covers six years, from 2012 to 2018.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1352 hrs