Five Malian soldiers and one civilian were killed in central Mali on Tuesday during an ambush on a convoy of the president of the High Court of Justice, the defense ministry said in a statement.
Abdrahamane Niang‘s convoy was travelling between the towns of Dia and Diafarabe’ on the Mopti region, about 500 kilometers (311 miles) northeast of the capital Bamako, when it was attacked, Reuters reports.
According to the statement, Mr. Niang and his wife were recovered by the army; however six deaths were reported including five Malian soldiers and the driver of the Honorable Niang.
It was not clear who was responsible for the attack, but the high level target and army deaths point to the deteriorating security situation in Mali due to the growing reach of jihadist groups that roam country’s vast desert expanses, the report said.
The rise of jihadist groups — some linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State — continues to destabilize Mali
French soldiers and the U.N. peacekeepers are in Mali to help in stabilising the nation. Attacks on peacekeepers, aid workers and the Malian military are common.
In the past four years, 118 peacekeepers have been killed — making the U.N. mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, the world body’s deadliest ongoing peace operation.
More than a year and a half ago, Mali’s government signed a peace deal with separatist rebels in the north from the Tuareg and Arab communities, hoping that the radical Islamists who had once aligned themselves with the local rebels — and later fallen out — had been driven away. But today, the terrorists appear stronger than ever, this according to the Washington post.
