At least 114 killed in attacks in Mali, where 250 Sri Lanka Army soldiers are stationed

Colombo (News 1st) - At least 114 people were killed yesterday (Thursday 7th) in two attacks by Islamic militants in Mali, the West African nation where more than 250 Sri Lanka Army soldiers are stationed as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force, foreign media reported the Malian government as saying.

The attacks took place on a riverboat packed with civilians and a base of the Malian Army near the central town of Gao. It was not immediately clear if Sri Lanka Army troops were in that area. The UN force, known as MINUSMA (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali) which has 17,000 personnel in Mali, did not comment on the attack.

At least 49 civilians were killed when the riverboat was hit by at least three rockets while it was traveling on the Niger River between the towns of Gao and Mokti, a statement on government radio said.

In a second attack, 15 soldiers and at least 50 militants were killed in an attack on a Malian army base in the same area, the government said.

The ruling military junta, which deposed the elected government in 2020, has ordered UN forces out of Mali, and MINUSMA has said it will pull out by the end of this year. The latest contingent of Sri Lanka Army soldiers left for Mali last week. More than 60 nations have contributed troops to MINUSMA, and over 350 UN peacekeepers have been killed in Mali in the last decade, including three Sri Lankan soldiers in 2019.

Attacks by militants have increased in recent years in the Sahel region of West Africa just south of the Sahara Desert, in the nations of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria which have common borders.