At least a minimum of 53 soldiers have been killed in an ISIS attack on an army post in Northern Mali.
The strikes underscored the fragility of an area straddling several West African countries battling increasing jihadist violence that has claimed hundreds of lives.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack via its Amaq news agency on Saturday, without providing evidence. ISIS group has posted dozens of claims of responsibility for attacks in several countries since U.S. special forces killed its previous leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi last weekend.
ISIS said, “Soldiers of the caliphate attacked a military base where elements of the apostate Malian army were stationed in the village of Indelimane,”
ISIS also claimed responsibility for the death of a French Corporal Ronan Pointeau who died after an armored vehicle in which he was traveling hit an improvised explosive device (IED) near the city of Menaka,
Government Spokesman Yaya Sangare told Reuters on Saturday that, “Heavily armed unidentified men attacked around noon. The attack started with shellfire … Then they retreated toward Niger,”
Yaya added that the death toll remained provisional as corpses were undergoing identification, and that the army was undertaking a combing operation on the ground with support from international forces, including French troops from the Barkhane operation and U.N. peacekeepers.
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Yaya said, “The dispatched reinforcements found 54 bodies including one civilian, 10 survivors, and found considerable material damage,”
The attack follows jihadist raids in late September that underscored the increasing reach and sophistication of armed groups operating in the region. From their stronghold in Mali, groups with al Qaeda and Islamic State links have been able to fan out across the Sahel, destabilizing parts of Niger and Burkina Faso.