Death toll from Mali attack passes 100: sources

The number of Malian soldiers that were killed in a militant attack on the Dioura military camp in central Mali last week could have surpassed the 100 mark, according to local sources.

Previous reports this week indicated that at least 50 soldiers had been killed in the attack considered to be one of the deadliest suffered by the Malian army since conflict broke out nearly 15 years ago.

A security source in the city of Mopti said that the September 10 attack "resulted in a tragedy of unprecedented scale, more than 100 soldiers including two officers were killed."

A local official separately said that more than 80 soldiers were captured and that the military camp had been abandoned and stripped of its weapons.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the assault. 

The group later claimed it had killed 150 Malian soldiers and captured 93, figures that could not be independently verified.

JNIM intensifies attacks

The Malian army has not released an official casualty figure but said it had launched air and ground operations against the attackers.

The attack comes amid an intensifying security crisis in Mali, where JNIM and Tuareg separatist forces have carried out coordinated attacks against military positions and other strategic targets since late April.

Mali has faced an armed conflict since 2012 involving Al-Qaeda and Islamic State-linked militants, separatist groups and criminal networks.