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Mali extends state of emergency, declares 3-days to mourn 17 dead soldiers

Mali

The Malian government has extended the state of emergency in the country by 10 days following recent attacks by armed men on pro-government forces. The AFP however reports that the state of emergency had been extended by three months.

The latest attack was on Tuesday at the Nampala military camp in central Mali. The attack claimed by Ansar Dine and the Fula ethnic group claimed the lives of 17 soldiers and wounded 27 others.

The council of ministers that announced the decision also declared three-day mourning period for the 17 soldiers. Reuters reports further that on late Wednesday, suspected militants attacked a military patrol vehicle in the Timbuktu region.

“Despite the actions of the state, the terrorist threat persists … as is evidenced by the recent attacks against the armed and security forces of Mali,” the council of ministers said in a statement.

The state of emergency in the West African country was first declared for ten days, following the terrorist attack on the Radisson Blu Hotel in Bamako, on 20 November 2015, and then on 21 December for another ten days. It has since been reviewed a number of times in the continued fight against terrorism in the face of attacks from the jihadists.

Despite 11,000 U.N. peacekeepers deployed since the French intervention, militants still launch frequent attacks across Mali and its neighbors.

“Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it was worried about a lack of health care in northern Mali, where few health centres are functioning and an outbreak of malaria has led to one in two people being infected in some villages.”

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