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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Mali army says kills 20 Tuareg rebels in clashes |
| 2008-06-08 |
| Mali said its army killed at least 20 Tuareg rebels near the Algerian border this week in the heaviest fighting since a rebel assault last month that blew apart the latest accord to end a growing revolt in the Sahara. The government overhauled its military leadership on Thursday after fighting subsided, promoting to overall armed forces chief the head of the land army, who colleagues say has spent the last few months in the north battling nomadic rebels. "After heavy fighting that lasted until Wednesday June 4, 2008, the toll is as follows: on the side of the armed bandits, 20 confirmed dead, several wounded including three seriously," the Defence Ministry said in a statement late on Friday. Other rebels were taken prisoner, the ministry said. The army, it said, suffered "one lightly injured, with no loss of human life". When rebels attacked an army garrison in May, the army said 17 rebels and 15 soldiers were killed. "This time there were no lives lost on the army's side because it was the army which went on the offensive. The army will no longer allow itself to be taken by surprise," a military official told Reuters on Saturday on condition of anonymity. "We are patrolling and whenever we discover rebel positions we bombard them. One time we surprised them while they were cooking up food near a waterhole and attacked them, just as we surprised them when they had a rendez-vous with some Algerians to receive an ammunition convoy," he said. Three days of fighting began on Monday when fighters loyal to Tuareg rebel leader Ibrahim Ag Bahanga attacked an army supply convoy travelling from the northeastern town of Kidal to Tin-Zaouatene on the Algerian border, the Defence Ministry said. |
| Posted by:Fred |