At least 27 soldiers were killed and 33 wounded in the jihadist attack on a security post in Mondoro, in southern Mali, according to the interim government of this Sahel nation.
The spokesman for the military authorities, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, specified that 21 of the 33 wounded, in serious condition, were evacuated to Sevaré, and that 7 soldiers are considered missing.
During the attack, launched around 5:30 GMT on March 4, 47 terrorists were neutralized, according to him.
A military source told AFP that there were about 150 soldiers in the Mondoro camp, and that the attackers seized some twenty military vehicles and combat tanks. The fatalities, according to this source, are between 40 and 50.
The head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), El-Ghassim Wane, strongly condemned the Mondoro attack and offered his deepest condolences to the Transitional authorities, the Malian people, as well as the families and loved ones of fallen soldiers.
On February 17, France announced that Canada and the European countries involved in Operation Barkhane and Task Force Takuba are carrying out a coordinated withdrawal of their military from Mali. The official statement alleged that the Malian transitional authorities are preventing the effective fight against terrorism in Mali from continuing.