The Islamic State (IS) group on Saturday claimed responsibility for a raid that killed 49 Malian troops as well as a blast that led to the death of a French soldier.
Friday’s assault on a Malian military outpost at Indelimane in the eastern Menaka region near Niger killed 49 soldiers, wounded three and left 20 survivors, the Malian Armed Forces said.
“Soldiers of the caliphate attacked a military base where elements of the apostate Malian army were stationed in the village of Indelimane,” the Islamic State said in a statement on its social media channels.
French corporal Ronan Pointeau, 24, died after an armored vehicle in which he was traveling hit an improvised explosive device near the city of Menaka, the French Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The Islamic State also claimed responsibility for that, saying its fighters had “detonated an explosive device on a French army convoy in the Indelimane area.”
Pointeau and his colleagues were escorting a convoy between the cities of Gao and Menaka.
“This insidious attack shows the importance and bitterness of the fight against armed terrorist groups” in the border region straddling Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, the ministry said.
French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly said she would be “visiting Mali very soon to hold discussions with Malian authorities.”
The Malian government initially said 53 people died in what it described as a “terrorist attack” at Indelimane.
An army officer said that troops arrived at the outpost at about 5pm on Friday and “took back control of our positions.”
“The terrorists carried out a surprise attack at lunchtime. Army vehicles were destroyed, others taken away,” the officer told reporters.
MINUSMA, the UN mission in Mali, condemned the raid and said its peacekeepers were helping Malian troops secure the region.
“This bloodshed that Mali has been living through cannot go on,” said Mahamound Dicko, a religious leader in Mali. “Do you want us to resign ourselves to this suffering? We can resist.”
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