KIGALI, Rwanda
Mali said Thursday that 41 terrorists including Nigerien terrorist leader Mamoudou Akilou were killed and several others wounded in clashes with the army following an attack on a military camp near the border with Burkina Faso and Niger.
A statement by the military said the terrorists were neutralized during a counter-offensive in response to Wednesday’s attack in the town of Tessit in the Gao region.
The army assessment shows that 41 bodies of terrorists were abandoned on the ground and several bodies and those wounded taken away, the statement said.
The military reassured the Malian population that “nothing will be too much for our forces to bring peace and tranquility to our country.”
The army has acknowledged a resurgence of what it described as “cowardly and barbaric attacks” in recent weeks.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger are facing spiraling insecurity, with terrorist groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS (Daesh) moving from Mali to other neighbors in the Sahel region.
