Mali militants ‘claim’ to seize military base

BAMAKO: An Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda claimed to have seized a military base in the north of Mali Friday, inflicting heavy losses on the country´s military. 

The Malian army, however, said it had repulsed attacks on bases in the Tim buktu region. Jama´at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM) took control of the Niafounke camp Friday with the help of a suicide-bomb vehicle, the group said on its Al-Zal laqa Foundation media platform. 

The statement was verified Saturday by SITE, a US organisation that follows radicalised groups. Tens of soldiers were killed or wounded in the battle, and two captured, JNIM claimed. 

It released photos showing five armoured vehicles it claimed to have captured, along with weapons and ammunition. JNIM often abandons camps they capture after a few hours. 

The group also claimed to have hit another army camp, a few miles away in Goundam, with mortar fire. The Mali military said on social media that the attacks had been “energetically repelled.”