Rebels kill three soldiers in northern Mali
Fighters with Mali’s main rebel alliance, which is led by Tuaregs, have killed three Malian soldiers in the West Africa country’s desert north.
The attackers from the Coordination of Azawad Movements, known by the French acronym CMA, attacked the troops overnight at a base about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the city of Timbuktu on Monday.
“We are at the scene. A delegation of the governorate of Timbuktu just arrived in Maoude to establish the facts,” said a Malian army officer on condition of anonymity.
“There was no fighting -- this was a surprise attack,” said a Timbuktu-based source with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).
Tuaregs took control of northern Mali, which they call Azawad, in January 2012. The country has witnessed days of turmoil ever since.
On March 22 the same year, President Amadou Toumani Toure was toppled in a military coup. The coup leaders said the ouster of Toure was in response to the government’s failure to contain the Tuareg rebellion in the north, where the rebels are fighting to gain autonomy.
The UN has worked to bring back stability to the West African country over the past months.
The three main rebel groups - the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUC) and the Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA) - signed a ceasefire deal with the government on May 23, 2014, which was followed by a cessation of hostilities in February this year.
On May 15, Mali’s government and several armed groups signed a peace accord in a ceremony attended by numerous heads-of-state, but missing the crucial backing of the main Tuareg-led rebel groups.
HN/HSN/HMV
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