Another deadly attack in the three border area.

At least 31 soldiers perished on Monday in an ambush in northeastern Mali, near the borders of Burkina Faso and Niger, according to a new assessment obtained Wednesday, March 17 from military and local sources. 

A previous staff count reported 11 dead, 11 missing and 14 wounded following the attack on March 15. 

This toll has continued to worsen since a first press release published late Monday, several hours after the attack carried out in the middle of the day against the relief of the Tessit post, southwest of Ansongo. 

 It could grow even worse, other sources citing even greater losses in the ranks of the military, which has seen hundreds of its men die in this way in recent years. 

The relief fell into an ambush by a hundred men aboard pick-ups and motorcycles, according to a story made previously by the army on social networks. 

"The new death toll is 31 Malian soldiers. The wounded were transported to Gao for treatment," a local commander told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity because of his hierarchical constraints.

It is the deadliest attack attributed to jihadists against Malian forces this year. 

"In the ranks of terrorists, 13 were found dead on the ground, and they left with other bodies," he said.  

Civilians targeted in Niger 

An official document that AFP has consulted reports 33 dead and 14 injured.

A local elected official spoke on condition of anonymity of 34 soldiers killed. 

>> UN Special Envoy in Mali: "The Malians are in favor of dialogue with the jihadists"

Since 2012 and the outbreak of independence and then jihadist rebellions in the north, Mali has been plunged into a multifaceted turmoil that has left thousands dead, civilians and combatants, and hundreds of thousands displaced, despite the support of the international community and the intervention of UN, African and French forces.

The crisis spread to Burkina Faso and Niger.  

On March 15, 58 people were killed in western Niger in attacks attributed to jihadists against civilians returning from the market and against a village, about 100 kilometers from Mali, in the same area known as the three borders. .  

This region, the scene of bloody actions by armed groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) organization, was the subject, after January 2020, of a major military effort by the French force Barkhane and its Sahelian partners, especially directed against the IS group in the great Sahara. 

With AFP 

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