This is the deadliest attack on Malian forces in months.
The attack, which took place on Friday morning at around 6:30 a.m. (French time), in the Mondoro camp in central Mali, also left 33 wounded, including 21 seriously, and seven “missing” among soldiers, according to the same source.
According to the army, 47 attackers were “neutralized” in the morning, and another 23 were after “grabbing terrorist shelters”.
“The offensive dynamics of the search for and destruction of terrorist shelters will continue unabated,” the Malian armed forces said in a press release. Several sources in Mali told AFP on Friday afternoon that the attack had left many dead in Mondoro.
A French military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the victims of the attack, carried out by several hundred jihadists, had left between 40 and 50 killed.
The source claims that the jihadists seized 21 cars, including several armored ones.
The Mondoro camp is in an area where Barkhane has been asked not to act, probably due to the presence of mercenaries from the (private Russian company) Wagner.
Near the border with Burkina Faso, this camp has been attacked several times in the past by jihadists seeking to impose their power on central government missions or foreign presences.
An operation against the camp and that of nearby Bulkesi killed about fifty soldiers in September 2019.