ISIS has claimed responsibility for an attack in northeastern Mali that killed at least 53 soldiers, the group’s Amaq news agency reported on Saturday without citing evidence.
Mali government said that the soldiers and one civilian had been killed in an attack on an army post in northern Mali, in one of the deadliest strikes against the West African country’s military in recent memory, Reuters reported.
“Soldiers of the [caliphate] attacked a military base where elements of the Malian army were stationed in the village of Indelimane,” the extremist group said in a statement.
Meanwhile, France said one of its soldiers in Mali had died after his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device, according to a statement by the French presidency.
ISIS militants “detonated an explosive device on a French army convoy in the Indelimane area,” it said on its Telegram channel, shortly after also claiming the Friday attack on the Malian army base in the same region.
