Mali
A Malian militant group with links to al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed two French soldiers in the West African country on Wednesday.
The soldiers were killed after their armoured vehicle was hit by an explosive device near Mali’s border with Niger and Burkina Faso, an area that has become increasingly dangerous for international forces seeking to quell Islamic insurgencies in the remote Sahel region.
In October, militants killed four U.S. troops just over the border in Niger, sparking a debate about America’s combat role in the vast and unpoliced scrubland just south of the Sahara.
JNIM, which has been responsible for other attacks in Mali and has been linked to the kidnapping of at least six western hostages in recent years, claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack late on Friday on two Mauritanian websites, through which the group has previously communicated.
Islamist militants took over northern Mali in 2012 before French forces pushed them back in 2013. But since then the threat has crept back, and attacks have occurred further and further south, into neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso, and as far afield as Ivory Coast.
In a bid to counter the insurgents, international donors on Friday pledged half a billion dollars towards the G5 Sahel, an international force made up of troops from Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.
REUTERS
01:01
Nine African migrants buried in secular ceremony in Brazil
01:04
Eto'o, Adebayor and French President Macron score in charity football match
02:20
Paris 2024 Olympics: exhibit looks at political history on Olympic stage
01:02
Pics of the day: April 24, 2024
01:05
Niger signs deal to supply Mali with cheaper diesel
02:13
Vigilante groups protect communities in northern Nigeria