Militants with rocket launchers attacked a checkpoint in central Mali region, killing six soldiers, authorities said Monday.

The attack on Sunday night at Mondoro also resulted in 10 injuries and material damage, the army said on Twitter.

Government spokesperson Yaya Sangare in a separate tweet said soldiers “repelled the terrorists, destroying two columns of their vehicles and motorcycles.”

The army air strikes were launched overnight resulting to major losses of human lives and material of the armed terrorist group, he said, adding that a sweeping operation was still underway in the area.

One Malian soldier was killed and three others wounded in a militant attack on Feb.14.

Last November some 50 Malian soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack on a military post in northeast Mali.

Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said in February his government was seeking talks with extremist groups in an effort to end an insurgency that has engulfed the country.