Dozens of Malian troops were either killed or are missing following a jihadist attack in Bouka Were in Central Mali. The terrorists ambushed the military convoy that contained at least a dozen vehicles about 100km from the Mauritanian border with Mali.
According to military sources, the convoy was transporting 64 troops and after the attack, only 20 were present for the roll call and with the exact number of the dead still unknown. A search is underway to determine the fate of soldiers who have been listed missing.
The attack is the latest in a string of bloody assaults by jihadists, who unleashed a revolt in northern Mali in 2012 that has spread to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. Additionally, the attacks come as intelligence in the Sahel indicate that Al Qaeda and ISIS-affiliated militants have broken a proverbial truce that unofficially ensured mutual survival and coexistence between the groups in the vast region.
Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed in Mali despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, and jihadist atrocities have led to deadly tit-for-tat attacks among ethnic groups in the country’s fragile center.
