Unidentified gunmen attack army base in eastern Mali, kill 5
Iran Press TV
Mon Jan 5, 2015 3:56PM
Unidentified gunmen in Mali have killed at least five people in an attack on an army base in Nampala City near the Mauritanian border.
According to a source in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) on Monday, attackers slipped into a camp belonging to the Malian army 'with relative ease' about 0615 GMT and opened fire on the soldiers.
The UN source added that the identities of those killed have not been ascertained so far.
The clashes, which lasted for more than three and a half hours, also left two Malian soldiers injured.
A Malian Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed the deadly clashes in Nampala, saying, 'Our positions were attacked early this morning.... We confronted the enemy and reinforcements are now being sent from a neighboring area to Nampala.'
The Nampala fighting came a day after gunmen killed six MINUSMA soldiers in the northeast of the country.
Chaos broke out in Mali after President Amadou Toumani Toure was toppled in a military coup on March 22, 2012. The coup leaders said they mounted the coup in response to the government's inability to contain the rebellion in the country's north.
The rebels are fighting to gain autonomy in the northern region of Mali.
MINUSMA was established after the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2100 on April 25, 2013. It is tasked with security-related operations in Mali.
FNR/HMV/SS
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