Four Mali soldiers killed by landmine

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BAMAKO, July 1, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Four Malian soldiers were killed on
Saturday when their vehicle drove over a landmine in the central Mopti
region, the local governor said, in the troubled desert region.

Governor Sidi Alassane Toure said the Malian army vehicle drove over the
landmine near the border of the Koro region, killing four members of the
national guard and wounding two others.

He added that ahead of Mali’s presidential election on July, the army is
“increasing patrols in this area, where there are tensions due to
intercommunal conflicts”.

In the Koro region, about 120 kilometres (74 miles) northeast of Mopti,
several residents have said that “terrorists have started to plant landmines
everywhere”.

“Two weeks ago during the end of school year exams, a tricycle
transporting children hit a mine — we lost three children,” said local Adama
Togo.

The latest landmine deaths came a day after two soldiers and a civilian
were killed in a suicide attack on the Malian headquarters of the G5 Sahel
international anti-terror task force in the Mopti town of Sevare.

Mali’s unrest stems from a 2012 ethnic Tuareg separatist uprising which
was exploited by jihadists in order to take over key cities in the north.

The extremists were largely driven out in a French-led military operation
launched in January 2013.

But large stretches of the country remain out of the control of Malian,
French and UN forces, which are frequent targets of attacks, despite a peace
accord signed with Tuareg leaders in mid-2015 aimed at isolating the
jihadists.

The violence has also spilled over into both Burkina Faso and Niger.