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At least 30 Malian soldiers have been killed and about 60 others wounded during an operation to recapture the northern town of Anefis from Tuareg separatist rebels and Islamist fighters, the country’s army has said.
Aljazeera reports that Army Chief General Jean Elysee Dao said the casualties were sustained during nearly a week of fighting before government forces regained control of the town, located about 100 kilometres from the strategic northern city of Kidal.
“I regret the loss of around 30 people, 30 fallen martyrs,” General Dao said in remarks broadcast on state television, adding that about 60 soldiers were wounded, some of them seriously.
The Malian army announced on Friday that it had retaken Anefis after the town was seized on July 4 by Tuareg separatists and fighters linked to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).
Read more: Rebels hit Mali in coordinated attacks, army denies capture of military bases
A day before the army’s announcement, the Tuareg-led Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) acknowledged suffering significant losses during the fighting but claimed it had inflicted some of the heaviest casualties and equipment losses on Malian forces and their allied Russian paramilitary fighters in the region.
Mali has faced a prolonged security crisis for more than a decade, with Islamist militant groups and separatist movements continuing to challenge government control over large parts of the country’s north and centre.
The FLA is seeking an independent state in northern Mali, while JNIM controls vast rural areas and has carried out numerous attacks on military and civilian targets.
Although the two groups have at times clashed, they have also cooperated in operations against the Malian military and its allies.
In late April, coordinated attacks by the armed groups targeted several locations across the country, intensifying insecurity and highlighting the continuing challenge facing Mali’s military-led government.
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