Malian security forces clashed with a group of suspected al-Qaeda militants June 17 in the northern Tessalit region, killing several people, a senior military source told Reuters. The armed forces sent out patrols to try to track down the suspected militants around Mali [2]'s northern border region with Algeria after the assassination this month of the security chief of the Timbuktu region.
"One of the patrols came across a group of gunmen in several armed 4x4s in the Timetrine sector of Tessalit," the source told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "There was a chase and the group took refuge in some hills. There was cross-fire. There is no exact toll at the moment but there are several dead on both sides."
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM [3]) said two weeks ago it had carried out its threat to kill a British hostage it was holding in the Sahara. (Reuters [4], June 17)
See our last posts on al-Qaeda [5] and the struggle in the Sahel [6].
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