Islamists kill more than 60 people in attacks in Mali Special investigators want to indict son of Joe Biden soon

At least 64 civilians and soldiers have been killed in two terrorist attacks by Islamist fighters in Mali, according to the military government. The government announced on Facebook on Friday evening that terrorists had attacked a ship and an army camp in Bamba in the Gao region in the northeast of the country on Thursday. In all, at least 49 civilians and 15 soldiers were killed. According to media reports, 50 Islamists were killed. There were also injuries. According to the information, the government of the West African state has declared a three-day national mourning.

The UN Mission to Stabilize Mali (Minusma), which has been in the country since 2013, will withdraw by the end of the year at the request of the military government and hand over its bases to the Malian security forces. In mid-June, the military government, increasingly turning to Russia, strongly demanded the withdrawal of some 12,000 UN blue helmets by the end of the year.

The UN mission was launched after Islamist terrorists overran the country’s north in 2012 following the collapse of neighboring Libya and an uprising by the nomadic Tuareg. A military intervention by the former colonial power France only temporarily pushed back the Islamists, some of whom had ties to the terrorist militias IS and Al-Qaeda. Since then, the terrorist groups have spread in northern and central Mali and neighboring countries. (sda/dpa)